CHICAGO — The Chicago Transit Authority announced Thursday that they have issued request for proposals related to extending the Red Line into the city’s Far South Side.

The RFPs will be sent to three contracting teams that were pre-selected by the CTA earlier this year. The agency said they expect to award the contract sometime next year. The pre-selected companies are FH Paschen, Ragnar Benson, Milhouse and BOWA Joint Venture; Kiewit Infrastructure; and Walsh VINCI Transit Community Partners.

The $3.6 billion project had TIF funding approved by city-council in December. It still would need federal approval. However, federal officials were in town last week pledging nearly $2 billion for the project.

The Red Line Extension Project includes the following.

• A 5.6 mile heavy rail extension from the 95th/Dan Ryan Terminal to 130th Street.  
• Four new, fully-accessible rail stations near 103rd Street, 111th Street, Michigan Avenue and 130th Street.
• Multimodal connections at stations to include bus, bike, pedestrian and park and ride facilities.
• A new railyard and maintenance shop near 120th Street that will contribute to improved reliability and service across the entire Red Line, which will be delivered under a separate project contract.

“Today we moved yet another step closer to providing residents of the Far South Side with access to rail service by moving to phase two of the procurement process. In this phase, we issue the RFP to the qualified firms — one of which will ultimately build the Red Line Extension,” said CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. “This follows the recent great news of a nearly $2 billion pledge from the federal government to fund the project. The Red Line Extension Project represents equity for the underserved South Side community, giving them a rail line that extends to the city limits.”

The RLE project is expected to create 6,200 construction jobs.