Oct. 16--CTA Yellow Line service will be restored on Oct. 30, following a 5 1/2 -month shutdown caused by the collapse of the embankment supporting the train tracks in Skokie, the CTA said Friday.
The Yellow Line, which operates between Dempster Street in Skokie and the CTA's Howard Street terminal, carries about 2,600 riders on an average weekday.
Many of those riders have been commuting on shuttle buses since the service disruption, which was caused by construction near the embankment at a wastewater treatment plant operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, officials said.
The embankment failure occurred just west of McCormick Boulevard near Howard Street. The water district and Walsh Construction Co., the district's contractor that was building new wastewater treatment facilities when the accident occurred on May 18, have rebuilt the more than 100-year-old embankment to current standards, officials said.
The CTA will run out-of-service trains to test the approximately 1,200 feet of track that was rebuilt as well as signal functions before passenger service resumes on Oct. 30, CTA president Dorval Carter Jr. said.
jhilkevitch@tribpub.com
