RTA Report: $3 Billion Farther Behind for Maintenance, Repair

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o-CTA-RED-LINE-DERAILMENT-facebookRTA Report: CTA, Metra, PACE Falling Behind in Funding for Equipment
Richard Wronski, Chicago Tribune, 1/22/15

Chicago’s three transit agencies have fallen $3 billion further behind previous years in investing in new equipment and maintaining existing trains, buses and infrastructure, a new report by the Regional Transportation Authority said Thursday.

“The current rate of annual reinvestment is insufficient to address the region’s normal (equipment) replacement needs, leading to … growth in the size of the investment backlog and an associated decline in overall asset conditions,” the report said.

The CTA accounts for 62 percent of the regional capital funding needs, while Metra’s share is 32.4 percent, and Pace’s is 6.3 percent, the report says.