CTA Announces Red Line Extension Timeline: Trains to 130th Street by 2030, South Side Residents React

For more than 50 years, residents of Chicago’s Far South Side have watched as rapid transit extended to every corner of the city except theirs. On Monday, they finally got a timeline—and a promise.

The Chicago Transit Authority announced that the long-awaited Red Line Extension, which will add four new stations stretching from the current 95th Street terminus to 130th Street, is projected to begin carrying passengers by 2030. Construction is slated to begin in late 2026, with the $3.6 billion project funded through a combination of federal grants, state funding, and local financing.

“This is a historic day for the Far South Side,” CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. said during an announcement ceremony at 111th Street and Eggleston Avenue, where one of the new stations will be built. “After decades of waiting, residents of these communities will finally have the same access to rapid transit that the rest of the city takes for granted.”

For the tens of thousands of people living in Roseland, West Pullman, Riverdale, and surrounding neighborhoods, the announcement was greeted with emotions ranging from jubilation to skepticism. Many have lived through previous announcements, previous timelines, and previous promises—all of which came to nothing.

“I’ll believe it when I see the trains running,” said Dorothy Williams, 72, a lifelong Roseland resident who attended Monday’s ceremony. “They’ve been talking about this since I was a young woman. I stopped getting my hopes up a long time ago.”

What the Extension Includes

The Red Line Extension will add 5.6 miles of new elevated track and four stations serving neighborhoods that currently have no rapid transit access:

• 103rd Street (at Eggleston Avenue)
• 111th Street (at Eggleston Avenue)
• Michigan Avenue (at 116th Street)
• 130th Street (at Altgeld Gardens)

The project also includes a new rail yard and shop facility near 120th Street, where trains will be stored and maintained. An adjacent bus terminal will allow for connections to local routes, improving transit access for residents throughout the region.

Service on the extension will operate with the same frequency as the existing Red Line—trains every 5-10 minutes during rush hour—and will add approximately 15-20 minutes to the journey between 130th Street and the Loop.

“For the first time, residents of the Far South Side will be able to get to jobs, schools, and opportunities throughout the region without depending on a car or spending hours on buses,” said Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Gia Biagi. “This is about equity. This is about connecting communities that have been cut off for too long.”

Decades in the Making

The Red Line Extension has been studied, planned, debated, and delayed since the 1960s, when the CTA first identified the Far South Side as underserved by rapid transit. Over the decades, the project has been alternately embraced and shelved by successive mayoral administrations, stymied by funding shortfalls, and complicated by debates over routing and station locations.

The current iteration of the project gained momentum after the Obama administration included it among eligible projects for federal New Starts funding. Planning accelerated under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who secured a key environmental approval in 2020. Mayor Brandon Johnson has made completing the extension a priority, dedicating city resources to close the remaining funding gap.

The $3.6 billion price tag is divided roughly evenly between federal, state, and local sources. The federal government is contributing $1.5 billion through the Capital Investment Grant program. Illinois has committed $1.0 billion through the Rebuild Illinois infrastructure plan. The remaining $1.1 billion will come from local sources including tax increment financing and transit-oriented development fees.

Community Voices

In the neighborhoods that will be served by the extension, reactions to Monday’s announcement reflected years of accumulated frustration—and fragile hope.

“This should have happened 30 years ago,” said Michael Thompson, 45, who grew up in West Pullman and now works as a social worker in Roseland. “Think about all the opportunities people missed because they couldn’t get to jobs on the North Side or downtown. Think about all the businesses that never opened because there was no transit access.”

Thompson, like many South Side residents, currently relies on a combination of buses and driving to navigate the city. His commute to work takes 45 minutes by car but would take nearly two hours by public transit—if he took it, which he doesn’t.

“When the Red Line opens, my whole routine changes,” he said. “I could take the train downtown in 30 minutes. My daughter could get to college without needing a car. It opens up the city in a way we’ve never had.”

Others expressed more guarded reactions, shaped by decades of broken promises and the sense that Far South Side communities have been deliberately neglected.

“They found money to build transit to O’Hare, to Midway, to all these other places,” said Carolyn Davis, 58, a retired postal worker from Riverdale. “But somehow, for 50 years, they couldn’t find money to build transit to Black neighborhoods. Forgive me if I don’t start celebrating yet.”

Davis’s skepticism was echoed at community meetings held throughout the Far South Side in the weeks before the announcement. Residents pressed CTA officials on what would happen if funding fell through, whether the timeline could slip, and whether their communities would truly benefit from the investment.

Economic Impact

Transit advocates project that the Red Line Extension will generate significant economic benefits for the Far South Side, which has suffered from decades of disinvestment.

A 2023 study by the Metropolitan Planning Council estimated that the extension could attract $2.5 billion in new development around station areas over the 20 years following completion. The study projected thousands of new housing units, retail establishments, and job opportunities in neighborhoods that have seen little private investment in recent decades.

“Transit-oriented development has transformed neighborhoods throughout Chicago,” said Marisa Novara, the planning council’s vice president of research. “Rogers Park, Bronzeville, the Logan Square area—all saw major investment after transit improvements. There’s no reason the Far South Side can’t experience the same transformation.”

Not everyone views that transformation positively. Some longtime residents worry that improved transit access will lead to gentrification, displacement, and the erasure of the communities they’ve built over generations.

“We’ve seen what happens when neighborhoods get ‘improved,’” said Antonio Garcia, an organizer with Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP). “Rents go up, longtime residents get pushed out, and the people who fought for these improvements don’t get to enjoy them. We need guarantees that this investment benefits the people who already live here.”

Community groups have pushed for the inclusion of affordable housing requirements in transit-oriented development projects and have advocated for local hiring provisions in the construction contracts. CTA officials say they are committed to working with community organizations throughout the construction and implementation process.

What Comes Next

The CTA will begin detailed engineering and final design work in early 2026, with construction expected to commence by the end of that year. The construction period is projected to last approximately four years, with the extension opening to passengers in late 2030 or early 2031.

In the meantime, transit officials will work to address community concerns and build support for the project. A series of public meetings is planned for early 2026 to discuss construction impacts, including traffic disruptions, noise, and temporary service changes on existing bus routes.

“We know this construction will be disruptive, and we’re committed to minimizing the impact on residents and businesses,” Carter said. “But we also know that the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term inconveniences.”

For Dorothy Williams, who has watched the Red Line Extension go from dream to plan to possibility over the course of her lifetime, the announcement was bittersweet.

“I hope I live to see it,” she said, her voice catching slightly. “I hope I get to take that first ride. After all these years, I hope it finally happens.”

The first train is now scheduled to depart 130th Street station in late 2030. For the Far South Side, the wait continues—but perhaps, finally, an end is in sight.