Leland Tower
Leland Avenue and Broadway, Uptown

Service Notes:

Services:
	North Side Main Line

Quick Facts:

Established: 2015
Rebuilt: n/a
Status: Demolished

Profile:

The universal crossover at Leland between Tracks 1 and 2 is seen looking south as it existed on September 29, 2005. For a larger view, click here. (Graham Garfield photo)

By the end of the 1990s, a set of crossovers between Tracks 1 and 2 on the North Side Main Line, located between Lawrence station and Leland Avenue, was referred to as Leland Crossover. This arrangement of switches -- a left-hand crossover from Track 1 to Track 2 and a right-hand crossover from Track 2 to Track 1, were the last remnants of a more complex set of crossovers that once existed here, which were interlocked and controlled by a tower called Lawrence Tower until 1961. See Lawrence Tower for the earlier history of these crossovers and the previous tower.

Between 2005 and 2007, the left-hand crossover from Track 1 to Track 2 was removed, leaving just the right-hand crossover from Track 2 to Track 1.

A new set of switches were added at Leland, with work beginning in 2013, which would be interlocked to allow remote (tower) and automatically controlled movement. These switches were needed to control the movement of trains between tracks for various phases of the Wilson Station Reconstruction Project, which were removed one track at a time through the station for reconstruction resulting in the services through the area being consolidated from four tracks to three. This interlocking plant was in the same general location as the old Lawrence Interlocking and tower, but continued to be named for Leland Avenue, which is closer to the actual location of the switches and tower than Lawrence Avenue is.

Construction crews completely replace Track 1 and 2 between Lawrence and Leland avenues, down to the trackbed, seen looking north on April 20, 2013. Special work for the new, future Leland Interlocking was installed as part of this project. For a larger view, click here. (Graham Garfield photo)

Track work to install the new turnouts for a new universal crossover between Tracks 1 and 2 was undertaken as part of life-extension improvement work undertaken at or near seven stations on the north Red Line in 2012-13. Each location included renovations to the station facilities as well as to the viaduct and the tracks near those stations. Work was performed by Contractor Kiewit Infrastructure Co. In April 2013, during one of several weekend track closures and reroutes required for the project, Tracks 1 and 2 were completely removed between Lawrence and Leland, with the trackbed re-graded and new ballast, ties and track laid down. The new track included the turnouts and special work needed for the new universal crossover -- a left-hand crossover from Track 1 to Track 2 on the north and a right-hand crossover from Track 2 to Track 1 immediately to the south -- but not the actual rails between the two switches.

Subsequently, as part of the Wilson Station Reconstruction Project, the necessary signal systems, wayside signals, and track trips were installed, along with the small tower hut at the far south end of the Lawrence station platform. The home signals in the normal direction of traffic on Tracks 1 and 2, the X2 and X4, were placed in service at 1000 hours on Monday, December 30, 2013. However, the actual track connections and final work would not be completed until March 2015, just before the interlocking needed to go into service.

As CTA prepared to begin a new phase of the Wilson Station Reconstruction Project, the final work to place Leland Interlocking was performed during a weekend closure of Tracks 1 and 2 and reroute of all trains to Tracks 3 and 4 over March 7-8, 2015. Over that weekend, the connection between Track 1 and the left-hand turnout onto Track 2 was made. This allowed southbound Purple Line Express trains to merge onto Track 2, required for the next phase of the Wilson project wherein the old Track 1 would be demolished and rebuilt from Leland to Montrose. In this configuration, Track 1 does not have a switch but rather the straight tracks were simply replaced with a curve that merged into the switch on Track 2 -- this made the connection simpler. Leland Interlocking officially came into service at 0400 hours on Monday, March 9, 2015. This began a multi-year period of three-track operations through Wilson station, similar to the operations for construction phasing that took place at Belmont and Fullerton in 2007-08 for those stations' reconstruction.

During this phase, the special work for the trailing right-hand switch on Track 1, for a future connection from Track 2 to Track 1, was in place south of the existing switch but remained unconnected, awaiting a future phase of the project. This future stage came when CTA began the second phase of the Wilson Station Reconstruction project, a milestone that marked the "one-third complete" stage for the project.

In phase 2 of the Wilson project, Red Line and Purple Line Express service continued to share one southbound track during weekday rush hours, but now shared the newly-opened Track 1, while Track 2 closed for demolition and reconstruction. The track arrangement at Leland Interlocking was effectively mirror-reversed from what it had been -- the curved track on Track 1 that led to the merging switch on Track 2 was removed and replaced with straight rail, connecting back into the track with a trailing right-hand switch along Track 1 that had been previously laid for this eventuality. Conversely, Track 2 was severed and a new right-hand curve was installed which merged Track 2 into Track 1, to allow southbound Red Line trains access to the rebuilt Track 1 through Wilson station. This new operating pattern took effect on March 21, 2016, following a weekend closure of Tracks 1 and 2 for replacement of the trackwork involved.

This arrangement continued for approximately six months until the switch from the second to the third phase of construction for the project, which occurred over the weekend of September 23-26, 2016. At this point, the new Track 2 was placed into service through Wilson station and the old Track 3 and 1900-vintage center island platform were removed from service for demolition. However, while Track 2 was the eventual southbound Red Line track, during phases 3 and 4 northbound Red Line trains used Track 2 and stop on the station's new west island platform. This meant that connections had to be made to Track 3 at each end so trains could make the transitions. North of Wilson station, in the area of Leland Interlocking, a temporary curved track was laid during the cutover weekend connecting the new Track 2 through the station to the existing Track 3 near Leland. No changes were made to the interlocked junction between Tracks 1 and 2 at this phase, as southbound Red and Purple line trains continued to merge and share Track 1 through Wilson station during this phase.

The Wilson Station Reconstruction Project was planned to transition from phase 3 to phase 4 in March 2017, with the new Track 3 through Wilson station coming into use and the old Track 4 closing for demolition and replacement. Northbound Purple Line trains would temporarily use the new Track 3, requiring connections to the old Track 4 north and south of the station. In the area of Leland Interlocking, a temporary curved track was laid during the cutover weekend connecting the new Track 3 through the station to the existing Track 4. No changes were made to the interlocked junction between Tracks 1 and 2 at this phase, or to the Track 2-to-Track 3 connection used by northbound Red Line trains at this time.

By the end of summer 2017, with the Wilson station project nearing completion, the work began to undo all the temporary track connections and route trains in their final configuration through Wilson station. This meant undoing all the track changes at the south end of the site in the area of Sunnyside and Wilson Interlocking, and at the north end of the site in and around Leland Interlocking. These changes occurred from east (Track 4, northbound express) to west (Track 1, southbound express).

The first permanent tie-in occurred over the weekend of September 16-17, when the permanent Track 4 through Wilson was connected to the existing Track 4 near Sunnyside and near Leland, taking northbound Purple Line Express trains off Track 3 through Wilson. This required no service changes to occur (since the only trains using Track 3 through Wilson or Track 4 on either side of the site were the express trains, which did not run on weekends). On Monday, September 18, the new northbound express track was brought into service. Linden-bound Purple Line Express trains began using the track during that morning's rush period. While the track passed through the new northbound island platform -- the east platform of the pair of island platforms -- the platform remained under construction and closed, with trains bypassing it. Howard-bound Red Line trains continued using track 2 through the station, and calling at the east platform.

The next cutover occurred the weekend of October 21-22, 2017, when the permanent Track 3 through Wilson was connected to the existing Track 3 on either end of the project site -- this moved Howard-bound Red Line trains off Track 2 through Wilson (which was the eventually southbound Red Line track), allowing them to remain on track 3 through the station, which they began doing at 9pm, Sunday, October 22. This put both northbound Red and Purple line trains on the new east island platform, and so at 4am, Monday, October 23, the new east platform at Wilson station opened. Concurrent with the east platform opening, Purple Line Express trains began stopping at Wilson in both directions, during both the morning and evening rush periods -- during all times of Purple Line Express service. 95th-bound Red Line trains and Loop-bound Purple Line Express trains continued to stop at the west platform. both on track 1 for the time being.

The two aforementioned cutovers occurred in the area of Leland Interlocking, but did not affect the interlocking itself; they both involved changed to straight-railed curved track connections. The next cutover, however, began the decommissioning of Leland Interlocking -- the connection of the permanent Track 2 through Wilson with Track 2 north and south of the station. At the south end, this simply involved a routing change at Wilson Interlocking; at Leland, however, it meant the removal of the curve on Track 2 that connected to the right-hand switch at Leland that permitted southbound Red Line trains on Track 2 to merge onto Track 1; in its place, Track 2 would be straight-railed and connected to the new Track 2 in the project site. This occurred over the weekend of November 4-5, 2017, with southbound Red Line trains temporarily rerouted to Track 1 at Berwyn Crossover to bypass the work area. By Sunday evening, the new, straight Track 2 was completed through the Leland site and just after 1900 hours, the first southbound Red Line train went through, entering Wilson on Track 2 instead of Track 1. Effective at 2200 hours, Sunday, November 5, the right-hand switch at Leland Interlocking was permanently removed from service. The signals, tower and interlocking temporarily remained, but the tower was placed on automatic and the switch was clamped in the "normal" (straight) position for the time being.

The following weekend, on November 11-12, 2017, the switch on Track 1 was removed, replaced with straight rails. At that point, there were no longer any switches or track connections at Leland Interlocking. At 2200 hours, Sunday, November 12, Leland Interlocking was officially removed from service. In addition to the switch, the wayside signals on Track 1 had also been removed. However, signal X4 on Track 2 remained in service for another month. On Saturday, December 16, 2017, the X4 signal anf the tower itself were removed.

	leland02.jpg (257k) The state of Leland Crossover is seen looking south as it existed on October 6, 2012 -- the right-hand crossover from Track 2 to Track 1 remains, but the left-hand crossover from Track 1 to Track 2 which used to be immediately beyond it has been removed. A northbound Red Line train passes led by car 2730, but note which track it's on -- its presence on the outer express track, Track 4, instead of the usual Track 3 suggests that a reroute is in effect, probably for maintenance or construction elsewhere in the vicinity. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	leland05.jpg (230k) A Loop-bound Purple Line Express train pass through Leland Interlocking the morning of March 9, 2015, the first day the interlocking was officially in service. The train's merging from Track 1 onto Track 2, which it would share with 95th-bound Red Line trains, signals the beginning of 'three-track operation' through Wilson station, part of the reconstruction phasing to allow Track 1 to be demolished and rebuilt. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	leland06.jpg (374k) Special work on Track 1 for a right-hand turnout was installed in 2013, but has yet to be brought into use. It was installed in anticipation of a future phase of Wilson Station Reconstruction wherein Leland Interlocking will be reconfigured to have trains from Track 2 merge onto Track 1 to allow the former track's demolition and reconstruction. (Photo by Graham Garfield)