Charm &c.

The Chicago L is getting a new line! The rather underused Cermak (aka Douglas) branch of the southern Blue line will be rerouted on the Paulina Connector into the Loop starting on June 25; the new service is to be called the “Pink Line.” Apparently this will be a 180-day test. This is exciting for three reasons:

• The Paulina Connector, built in 1895, has not seen revenue service since 1958, and had to be almost completely rebuilt. So it’s almost like new track.
• The new line provides an all-day clockwise route around the Loop which doesn’t exit in the southeast (unlike the Orange).
• Wow, pink. The CTA’s advertising campaign encourages us to “Think Pink”, which certainly sounds like a Pink Panther reference. Actually, Eleni Vrettos, the 7th-grader who wrote the winning essay advocating the color choice, explicitly says as much.

In completely unrelated news, I was in China and DC for a couple of weeks and was having fun and conferencing, so blogging failed to occur. Normal service will resume shortly.