Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Forrest Claypool to unveil a comprehensive $205 million initiative that will rehabilitate and modernize the agency’s bus and rail maintenance facilities, which will benefit commuters and the local economy with the creation of more jobs. The combined bus and rail maintenance and repair facility modernization project will create more than 500 jobs, including positions for skilled workers in the electrical, sheet metal, plumbing and pipefitting trades.

The majority of the investment, $130 million, will be used to upgrade the agency’s seven bus maintenance and repair facilities as well as equipment used for repairs. The remainder will go towards upgrades at rail maintenance and repair facilities. Of the agency’s seven bus maintenance and repair facilities, four are approximately 20-30 years old – having been built between 1984 and 1995. The remaining three facilities are more than 55 years old. The 77th Street garage, built in 1903, is the agency’s oldest bus maintenance and repair facility and still has rails embedded in the floors from the street car era.