maxtm

Got a chance to hop on the new CTA 5000-series test train than entered revenue service today.

Some thoughts:

• Very smooth and quiet ride, fast acceleration, and the A/C motors are quieter than most A/C-powered trains I’ve heard—a good thing since most of the ‘L’ is elevated.
• The exterior looks nearly identical, and so does the interior. The problem is that it’s already kind of dated looking and not very interesting. The interior is especially disappointing. The seats look pretty bad in their arrangement. They need to ditch the ugly beige color on the plastic molding and seats. The passengers I saw took a while to notice that something was even different.
• NYC abandoned the bucket seats and Chicago should too. They just don’t fit, for better or worse, many American figures these days. I like the aesthetic of the new metal seats in the newer articulated buses, maybe they could develop that.
• The giant LED signs on the inside are fantastic. But, the service messages should be repeated. For instance, it will scroll only once messages like, “Transfer to Brown Line trains at Fullerton.” This could be truncated to “Transfer to Brown Line” and repeatedly scrolled.
• Speaking of the giant LED signs, now that the Train Tracker is (hopefully) (finally) coming online, those signs would be great to one day show transfer trains’ arrival times—or even nearby buses.
• I like the new door closing warning sound that sounds as the doors are physically closing. Sounds like the trains in London. However, they can probably ditch the loud doorbell sound before the “Doors Closing” announcement now.
• The map that shows where the train is is useful. But, it’s located above the destination sign when it should be above the doors—it’s going to be too difficult to get to the middle of the car to read it when it is crowded. NYC got the sequencing better, too. All of the following stations the train will stop at should be lit. The current station should blink, and prior stations should be dark. That gives more information to passengers that are wondering where the train will stop.
• A little light above the door illuminates as the door opens at the station. I would think it should illuminate when the “next stop” announcement is first played to show which side the doors open on.
• The monochrome exterior LEDs are very readable, but I am wondering how they will handle trains where the destination is “Loop.” Given that 5 different lines go around The Loop. I am guessing it will alternate, e.g., “Purple” then “Loop” or use a smaller font “Purple/Loop.”

Here are some pics I managed to take. A CBS reporter was also on board for part of the trip.

And a video I shot: