Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has issued a Request for Qualifications to select the most qualified companies to design and build the first phase of the Red and Purple modernisation programme (RPM).
Once a pool of candidates is finalized, expected later this year, CTA will then invite the potential bidders to submit proposals on how they propose designing and building RPM Phase One when the agency issues its Request for Proposals (RFP) in 2018. The proposals will be considered on a variety of criteria, including experience, price and other factors.
The first phase of the programme will rebuild 4 of the oldest Red Line stations (Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr) and make them fully accessible to people with disabilities and completely reconstruct 2 km of adjacent track structure. The phase one also includes the construction of a rail bypass to unclog a 100-year-old junction where Red, Purple and Brown Line trains currently intersect, allowing CTA to significantly increase the number of trains it can run along the Red Line to reduce overcrowding and meet growing demand for transit service.
The RPM project is among more than USD 8 billion of transit investment announced, under way or completed by the city’s Mayor since 2011, including the mayor’s “Red Ahead” programme, a series of projects to improve the Red Line.
This year, the Federal Transit Administration announced a USD 1 billion funding agreement for the project, as the final step in securing the funding needed for the USD 2.1 billion first phase of the RPM project.
The Red Line, the CTA’s busiest rail line, is at the end of its useful life, and has reached its capacity. RPM Phase One will completely rebuild the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr stations and all the tracks and support structures for more than a mile adjacent to the stations.
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