Pink Line (CTA)

Until 1996, the Cermak branch was known as the Douglas branch, for Douglas Park along its route. Originally, Douglas trains were operated by the Metropolitan West Side Elevated directly into the Loop by means of the Metropolitan's main line. Construction of the Congress Street Superhighway (known now as the Eisenhower Expressway, I-290) in the 1950s required the removal of the Metropolitan's main line, resulting in Douglas trains being routed to the Loop via the Paulina Connector and the Lake Street 'L' similar to the current service.

Upon completion of the new Congress branch in the median of the expressway, all trains of the Douglas branch were operated via the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway to the city's Northwest Side and to O'Hare . The Douglas branch was re-named the Cermak branch in the mid-1990s. The entire Cermak branch is ADA accessible.

In January 2006, the CTA held hearings on its proposal to reroute trains from 54th/Cermak via the recently rebuilt Paulina Connector to the Lake Street Green Line tracks, then operating around the Loop clockwise for the first time since Douglas trains began using the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway in downtown Chicago on June 22, 1958. This would allow a doubling of Blue Line trains to Forest Park on the Congress Branch, since service would no longer be divided between the Forest Park and 54th/Cermak terminals. The CTA has also promised that service to/from 54th/Cermak would be increased 100% during weekday rush hours.

At the initial time of proposal, this plan was often referred to as the "Silver Line", as the original idea was to use gray as the line color on printed materials and give it the route name of "Silver".

In February 2006, the CTA approved the separate plan.[2] Non-rush hour trains would be routed via the Loop, Green Line tracks and Paulina Connector. During weekday rush hours, service would be available on this routing as well as the original route via the Dearborn Street subway every half hour. These changes went into effect beginning June 25, 2006, with the trial period scheduled to end 180 days later on December 22, 2006.

In March 2006, the Chicago Transit Authority announced that of the top three colors, Pink, Gold and Silver, Pink had received the most votes in a write-in essay contest for Chicago-area schoolchildren in kindergarten through 8th grade—a $1,000 savings bond was awarded to a selected essay writer who advocated for the color pink.[3]

The Pink Line began operation in June 2006, using the rebuilt Paulina Connector, which had not been used in regular revenue service for 48 years.

The service, which was originally set up as a temporary service to be run for a trial period of 180 days (6 months), doubles service on both the Douglas branch and the Forest Park branch of the Blue Line. This is accomplished by routing all but 12 trains per day coming from O'Hare to Forest Park and adding entirely new service from the 54th/Cermak terminal in Cicero to The Loop via the Paulina Connector and the Lake Street branch of the Green Line. Pink Line trains operate clockwise on the Inner Loop track via Lake-Wabash-Van Buren-Wells before returning to 54th/Cermak.

On December 12, 2006, the CTA board approved a six-month extension to the trial period before making a decision on whether or not to make the changes permanent,[4] and another 180-day extension was added to the trial in June 2007.[5] On December 4, 2008, CTA announced its decision to make the Pink Line permanent.[6]