The Chicago Transit Authority announced the new Red-Purple Bypassthe first major improvement for CTA customers as part of the historic $2.1 billion Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One projectwill go into service on the Brown Line on Friday, Nov. 19.
The bypass is the first new section of track added to the CTA system in almost three decades.
RPM is the largest reconstruction project in CTA history, modernizing and replacing 100-year-old rail structures and stations to improve rail service reliability, comfort and convenience for CTA customers.
According to a press release, "The new Red-Purple Bypass is an important part of CTA's work to improve Red Line service throughout the region. The bypass eliminates a 114-year-old rail junction that had become a chokepoint for service across the CTA rail system and will allow CTA to add rail service during busy travel periods and reduce overcrowding and delays."
The new Red-Purple Bypass carries Kimball-bound (northbound) Brown Line trains over northbound and southbound Red and Purple Line tracks just north of Belmont station. It replaces the"Clark Junction" that was built in 1907 to connect what was then the Ravenswood Line (today called the Brown Line) to the Red and Purple lines, which began rail service in 1900.
The Red Line is the CTA's busiest line, serving more than 30 percent of all rail customers.