The Chicago Transit Authority, already facing at least $20 million in flood-induced subway repairs, is wracking up as much as $600,000 a day in extra operating expenses because of the disaster, officials said Thursday.
And the bills are piling up at a time when the CTA can least afford them. The money available in the agency`s capital budget falls short of what is needed for new buses and other routine upgrading projects, let alone $20 million for an unanticipated subway rehabilitation, officials said.
Of more immediate concern to riders, however, are the increased daily operating costs, including overtime pay and running the shuttle buses being used to plug the gap in train service caused by the subway shutdown.
The new burden will add to a budget shortfall projected as high as $14 million and could result in heavy service cuts later this year.
”The CTA has some severe budget problems facing it in the summer, irrespective of this,” said Gayle Franzen, chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority, the CTA`s parent agency.
CTA President Robert Belcaster expressed hope that federal disaster relief will cover part of the extra expenses, but it is not known how much help will come from Washington.
Heavy seepage has hit the State Street and Dearborn Street subways since Monday`s breach in an underground utility tunnel that sent millions of gallons of Chicago River water flowing beneath the Loop.
A 900-foot section of the Dearborn tube, located directly beneath the flooded tunnels, has been hardest hit. Sump pumps there are ejecting 300 gallons a minute and have prevented water from accumulating, Belcaster said.
In other sections, the flooded freight tunnels are at the same level as the subway tubes, about 40 feet below the street.
At some points, leaks have developed in the concrete plugs installed years ago at points where the subways intersect the tunnel system. Water also is seeping through the joints connecting the subway sections.
Belcaster said that engineers have found no indication that the subways, built between 1938 and 1951, are in danger of flooding or collapsing.
Nonetheless, precautions are being taken, he said. Sensors were being installed to detect any shift in the tubes, and crews will probe the ground every 30 to 50 feet from above the troubled 900-foot stretch of the Dearborn subway to see whether surrounding soil has eroded.
Richard Kunz, author of a book on the CTA rail system and editor of the New Electric Railway Journal, said he doesn`t expect engineers to find any problems. The tunnels were well-built, he said, ”and it`s all clay there.”
As another precaution, the CTA on Wednesday started to monitor the Lake Street elevated structure to see whether soggy soil has caused support columns to shift. Belcaster said readings are being taken three times a day and no problems have been reported.
The CTA chief said the estimated $20 million in repairs include such things as patching leaking joints; filling with concrete any voids outside the tunnels where soil may have washed away; and replacing expensive electrical controls, signals and communications equipment believed to have been damaged by the water.
Trains that run through the State Street subway have been rerouted onto the Loop elevated structure, but about 60 shuttle buses are being used to transport Loop commuters.
Overtime pay to drivers, supervisors and about 50 track inspectors who are monitoring the subways is a major component in the estimated $500,000 to $600,000 a day in additional operating costs, Belcaster said.
He said it will take at least seven days to restore subway service after the breach is plugged. City officials have said they expect that process to be completed Sunday.
Meanwhile, ridership on the rail line affected by the Dearborn Street subway shutdown, the O`Hare-Congress-Douglas, appears to be holding steady, officials said.
”We were really flabbergasted,” Belcaster said. ”We thought ridership would drop drastically.”
He theorized that people who have decided not to drive downtown because of the flooding have made up for regular riders who have abandoned the line.
Commuters, meanwhile, got some good news Thursday when Metra announced it would honor weekly and monthly CTA passes on all of its commuter lines except the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend. Passes issued by Pace also will be good on commuter trains.
Metra`s action gives beleagured CTA patrons another way to get in and out of the Loop for as long as the subways are closed.
With the closure, Loop-bound trains on the O`Hare leg of the O`Hare-Congress-Douglas line terminate at Division Street, while trains on the Congress and Douglas legs stop at Racine Avenue. With the shuttle bus plan, some riders have reported long delays getting downtown.
Patrons of the O`Hare line can sidestep the shuttles by transferring to Chicago & North Western trains at Jefferson Park or Irving Park Road and to Milwaukee north line trains at Montrose Avenue. Connections can be made between the Douglas line and the Burlington Northern at Western Avenue.
Delays also have been reported on CTA`s Howard-Englewood-Jackson Park trains since they have begun to detour from the State Street subway to the Loop elevated trestle.
Riders who use the Jackson Park segment can board the Metra Electric line at 63rd Street.
However, Metra Electric stations have automated ticketing, which means that riders cannot pass through turnstiles without magnetically coded tickets. Officials advise CTA pass-holders to use the orange Passenger Assistance Link (”PAL”) telephones next to the ticket machines to gain admittance from station attendants.
People unfamiliar with Metra should bear in mind that commuter trains run much less frequently than the CTA. Service typically is adequate during the rush hours. However, during off-peak periods, an hour or two can pass between trains.
Metra stops running at around midnight.
Elsewhere Thursday, the far-right northbound lane of the Kennedy Expressway through Hubbard`s Cave, just south of Ohio Street, remained closed. The Illinois Department of Transportation has installed pavement sensors to monitor the pressure of water seeping into the roadbed from the east wall of the viaduct.
Only 20 inches of water remained in the Grant Park South Garage, down from nearly 7 feet two days before, said Shawnelle Richie, spokeswoman for the Chicago Park District.
But water still was pouring into the garage at a rate of roughly 3,000 gallons a minute, Richie said, down from 5,000 gallons a minute of a few days ago.
