CTA Oakton (Skokie) Heavy Maintenance Shop

(Satellite)

Evan Stair shared
CTA Shop - 1950
Mike Fabian works on wheels at the CTA shop on Oakton Street in Skokie in 1950. Photo by Russell V. Hamm
https://www.instagram.com/p/yvvOhVKS-j/

Jonathan Hartsaw, Oct 2016

Elmer Costabile, Aug 2017

I copied the following from O'Brien WRP. This is how I first learned about this repair shop.

Satellite

When I discovered the name had been changed to Terrence J. O'Brian, I realized this is the plant that recently added ultraviolet lights to kill the bacteria in the effluent. Adding the disinfection equipment caused the collapse of the CTA Yellow Line embankment that runs along the north side of the WTP. In fact, the current satellite image shows the damage and some of the embankment shoring that was added.

A Chicago Tribune article (CT) indicates the accident happened May 17, 2015.  The tracks were shutdown a lot longer than the CTA expected. Service did not resume until October 30.

Reconstruction of the more than 100-year-old dirt embankment, which is on the property of the O'Brien wastewater treatment plant, was more complicated than anticipated, officials said. The cause of the failure still hasn't been determined, according to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, which runs the plant, located at McCormick Boulevard and Howard Street in Skokie.

"Every entity involved has hired forensic experts to determine the cause of the embankment failure, and their investigation is ongoing,'' said Allison Fore, a reclamation district spokeswoman. "Insurance companies for each agency will dig into these reports and ultimately reach an agreement on cause and responsibility.'' (CT)

Not only did they have to provide shuttle buses between the Skokie stations and the Dempster terminus, they had to truck CTA cars from their heavy maintenance facility down to 63rd Street where they had a ramp that could unload trucks. Someplace I saw a picture of a CTA car on a truck trailer doing down the Dan Ryan, but of course I can't find it now.

Walsh, which is also a major contractor on CTA rail projects, was building disinfection facilities at the treatment plant when the embankment failed. 

Just weeks before the May 17 collapse, Walsh asked CTA officials to loosen the rules governing how much the elevated tracks could be allowed to move during construction, and the CTA repeatedly granted the requests, emails obtained by the Tribune showed. Also, changes in the design of the waste disinfection facilities pushed the work closer to the Yellow Line. 

The reclamation district has taken responsibility for the accident and agreed to fully reimburse the CTA, officials from both agencies have said. The accident has cost the CTA an estimated $3.5 million through September, the CTA said. Expenses include the free shuttle buses and workaround procedures implemented to access the CTA Skokie Shops rail heavy maintenance facility at 3701 W. Oakton St. The embankment collapse cut off rail access to the repair facility, and rail cars have been trucked to a CTA facility on the South Side. Rail access to Skokie Shops resumed last week, Steele said. (CT)