CTA Your New Blue

Aldridge, in a joint venture, was awarded this design-build project to rehabilitate the entire signal system along the O’Hare Branch of the CTA Blue Line. Work included: nine miles of fiber optic cabling; installation of new signals, train stops, switch machines, worker ahead systems; and a state-of-the-art audio frequency track circuit system. Crews completed upgrades to 13 interlockings and nine new relay houses. In addition, the three track interlocking at Central Ave was replaced with new special track work, traction power ductbanks and cabling, and a new traction power substation feeder system connected across the busy Kennedy Expressway. The entire span received a new communications backbone and a CCTV system for enhanced security.