2600-series (CTA)

2600 series
Rehabbed 2600 series cars on the Purple Line Express
In service	1981–present
Manufacturer	Budd Company
Built at	Red Lion Plant, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Family name	High Performance
Constructed	1981–1987
Entered service	1981
Refurbished	1999–2002
Number built	600
Number in service	565
Number scrapped	5
Formation	Married pair
Fleet numbers	2601–3200 3458 (renumbered from 3032)
Capacity	45 (seated-A car) 46 (seated-B car)
Operators	Chicago Transit Authority
Depots	Desplaines Yard Kimball Yard (3458 only) Rosemont Yard Linden Yard Midway Yard Howard Yard 98th Street Yard
Lines served	Blue Line   Purple Line   Orange Line   Red Line   Brown Line (3458 only)
Specifications
Car body construction	Stainless steel
Car length	48 feet (14.63 m)
Width	9 feet 4 inches (2.84 m)
Height	12 feet (3.66 m)
Doors	4 per car
Maximum speed	55 miles per hour (89 km/h)
Weight	54,140 pounds (24,560 kg)
Traction motors	4 GE1262A1 per car
Power output	110 horsepower (82 kW) each motor
Electric system(s)	600 V DC third rail
Current collector(s)	Contact shoe
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The 2600 series is a series of Chicago 'L' car built between 1981 and 1987 by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 600 cars were built, 565 of them remain in service as of 2015.

The 2600 series was the fourth series of five interoperable series of Chicago 'L' cars known as the High Performance Family.

The 2600 series cars (numbered 2601–3200) were manufactured by the Budd Company, the same company that made the 2200 series. The cars were first delivered to the CTA in 1981, in time for the upcoming O'Hare Airport extension of the Kennedy Line (now known as the northwestern end of the Blue Line). Originally, an order was made for 300 cars, but this order was later increased to 600 cars, all of which were delivered between 1981 and 1987.

These cars were refurbished by Alstom of Hornell, New York, between 1999 and 2002. They are quite similar in design to the earlier 2400 series.

Currently, these cars make up the entire Blue Line fleet and parts of the Red, Orange, and Purple Line fleets. Car 3458 can be found on the Brown Line. In June 2014, as more 5000-series cars were being delivered, CTA began to transfer the Red and Purple Lines' 2600-series cars over to the Blue Line due to them being newer than the existing 2600-series Blue Line cars, in turn transferring the Blue Line's older 2600-series cars to the Orange Line as an interim replacement for its 2400-series cars until the Red and Purple Lines are fully equipped with 5000-series cars. Beginning in October 2014, CTA has also started to transfer some of the Red Line's 2600-series cars directly to the Orange Line to replace the rest of its 2400-series cars in the interim until the Red and Purple Lines are fully equipped with 5000-series cars.

Budd/Transit America had completed car 3200 on April 3, 1987. Car 3200 was not only the final car of the 2600-series order, but was the final railcar to be constructed by Budd/Transit America. Once the order was completed, Budd shut down its railcar business.

Accidents

• On March 24, 2014, a CTA 2600 Series train overann the buffers at the O'Hare Airport station injuring 32 people.

References

2600-series cars as-built at the Cicero-Berwyn Terminal on July 17, 1994

• "CTA Car Assignments". Chicago-'L'.org. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-25. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• "2600-series Cars". Chicago-'L'.org. Archived from the original on 10 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-30. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)