cta7003_20210526_int3.jpg (175k) The 7000-series railcars are equipped with an overhead digital display, centered over the aisle in the middle of the car, double-sided and slightly angled to increase the headroom clearance under it. These screens display a dynamic route map, showing the next few stops as well as the end of the line (with a series of arrows before the last station indicating that the map has been "collapsed"--there are stations not shown, where there are more stations between the current location and end of the line than can be displayed), which updates as the train moves along the route. The display includes other information about the train such as route name and direction, run number, next stop, and which side the doors will open on at the next stop. The display in car 7003 is seen while it is on Pink Line run 304 approaching Central Park on its way to the Loop on May 26, 2021 . (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta7003_20210526_int4.jpg (167k) Another feature of the 7000-series railcars is that the card display sash over the side doors, which system and route map car cards are displayed, has a built-in locked cover with clear window that covers the map card. This was included to prevent theft of the map card, which is an ongoing problem on earlier railcar series and costs CTA a lot of money to continuously replace. The map compartment over the #2 side door on car 7003 is seen on May 26, 2021. Although it is displaying a Blue Line car card map, the train is actually running on the Pink Line at the time of the photo; no one bothered to change the maps on the car when it was transferred from Blue to Pink a few days earlier. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta7003_20210526b.jpg (241k) 7000-series prototype car 7003 leads run 304, a 4-car Pink Line train en route to the Loop, as it stops at Damen station on May 26, 2021. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta7005_20210616.jpg (271k) Car 7006 leads an 8-car Howard-bound Red Line train stopping at Bryn Mawr station on June 16, 2021. The 7000-series prototypes had started in-service testing on the Red Line two days earlier, after their stint on the Pink Line; they would run on Red for a month, then Purple and Yellow for another month. The train is stopped at the temporary Bryn Mawr station built as part of the Red-Purple Modernization Project. The inbound platform in the foreground on track 1 is new; the outbound platform on track 2 is the former island platform from the old station but with a northward platform extension added, which is what is visible in front of the train on the left. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta7003_20210616a.jpg (249k) An outbound 8-car Red Line train of 7000-series prototype cars trailed by car 7003 is passing over Hollywood Avenue after departing Bryn Mawr station on June 16, 2021. The 4-track North Main Line is being reconstructed as part of the Red-Purple Modernization Project, half at a time. Trains are running on the west half, on tracks 1 and 2 (the former southbound tracks), while tracks 3 and 4 and the east half of the right-of-way is rebuilt; then they'll switch to reconstruct the west half. The construction equipment behind the train is to drive sheet piling to reinforce the west half of the embankment, allowing the excavator to them remove parts of the embankment fill. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta7003_20210616b.jpg (261k) An 8-car test train of prototype 7000-series cars with car 7003 at the rear is in passenger service traveling northbound on the Red Line approaching the Thorndale Interlocking, having just left Bryn Mawr station, on June 16, 202. The tall wall on the right, constructed of heavy wood posts in a concrete base with a wood frame and plastic orange construction fencing, provides a barrier between the two active tracks and the east half of the embankment that is under reconstruction as part of the Red-Purple Modernization Project, allowing some construction activities to occur without flagger on the tracks to protect the work but also slow train operation. (Photo by Graham Garfield)
	cta7003_20210617a.jpg (354k) A 95th-bound Red Line train of 7000-series prototype cars, led by car 7003, passed over Leland Avenue and Broadway as it approached Wilson station on June 17, 2021. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta7003_20210617b.jpg (336k) An 8-car test train of prototype 7000-series cars with car 7003 at the lead is entering Wilson station as it heads inbound on June 17, 2021. The Red Line train is on track 1 (normally used only by Purple Line Express trains) rather than track 2 due to a long-term reroute for Red-Purple Modernization Project construction. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta7005_20210622.jpg (377k) A 95th-bound 8-car Red Line train of 7000-series prototype cars led by car 7005 is entering the temporary Argyle station on June 22, 2021. Note that the right (east) half of the embankment is empty, its tracks having been removed in the early stages of reconstruction. The Berwyn station in the background is also closed for demolition and reconstruction. (Photo by Lou Gerard)
	cta7007-08_20210720.jpg (323k) A Purple Line 7000-series prototype test train, with unit 7007-7008 at the lead, passes over the North Shore Channel in this bucolic scene looking northwest near the Evanston-Wilmette border on July 20, 2021. The 7000-series cars moved from Red to Purple for in-service testing the previous day, July 19. (Photo by Walter Keevil)