CTA Red Line

Here's When You Could See CTA Security ‘More Than Doubling' on Trains, Buses

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Following recent violence on CTA transportation, Chicago officials announced Wednesday that additional security guards and police officers will be added to bus and train lines.

"Earlier today, the Chicago Transit Board approved two new contracts for unarmed security guards, which will more than double the resources that we have to provide security on CTA," President of the CTA Dorval Carter Jr. said in a press conference Wednesday.

Unarmed security guards will be placed at rail stations across the city, as well as travel on public buses and trains, Carter added.

Chicago Police is taking officers from the counterterrorism department and transferring them to gang and narcotics teams to investigate crimes on the transit system and patrol the lines.

The security guards and police officers will begin on CTA's Red and Blue lines. However, as the security program continues, officials said security will be added to other routes, as well.

So when can you start seeing added the security?

The CTA president said commuters will be able to see the security "very shortly." When asked by reporters, Carter said officers and guards should be placed within weeks.

On Tuesday night, a man was shot and critically wounded onboard a CTA Red Line train, according to police.

According to Chicago police, the man was riding in a train car near the 63rd Street station at approximately 8:33 p.m. when he became engaged in a verbal altercation with four other individuals.

During the altercation, one of the individuals pulled out a gun and began firing shots, striking the victim twice in the stomach.

Police say that the man was taken to an area hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.

The suspects were able to get off the train and flee the scene, and none are in custody at this time. Area One detectives are continuing to investigate, and train traffic was halted near the scene during the investigation.

A number of other incidents have taken place at or near CTA train stations in recent days.

Last week, three people were shot near a Red Line station on the city's Far North Side and two men were beaten and robbed by a group on a Red Line train.

Around the same time, a man was robbed by three other men at gunpoint while on a CTA train near 47th Street.

"The safety and security of public transit riders is the No. 1 priority for both the CTA and the Chicago Police Department (CPD), which provides law enforcement for CTA," the CTA said in a statement last week. "Each day, CPD works in close coordination with CTA’s Security Department using both historical and real-time information in directing patrols and resources to address the issue of crime on and near our system. Addressing crime on the CTA requires a multi-pronged approach that includes the deployment of CPD officers who patrol the system all hours of the day. CTA supplements those efforts with private security guards, and our extensive security-camera network, which remains a vital asset for law enforcement."

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