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The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) recently completed a portion of a system-wide fiber-optic expansion project under which the authority connected 11 security cameras along the 54th Street/Cermak branch of the Blue Line to its control center.

Later this year, the cameras will be connected to the city’s 911 Center. The authority will add more cameras to the network as fiber optics are installed during the next few years. By 2006’s end, CTA’s security network will include about 1,200 cameras at 48 stations. CTA’s network will feed directly into the 911 Center and become part of the Office of Emergency Management Communication’s Homeland Security grid designed to expand the use of surveillance cameras throughout Chicago.

CTA is installing fiber optics as part of rehabilitation projects under way on the Brown Line and Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line, and as part of the city’s State Street subway renovation. During the next several months, CTA will install cameras that will become part of the network at the Clinton station on the Forest Park branch of the Blue Line and Lake/Randolph in the State Street subway.

Earlier this summer, CTA also began a $31 million communication upgrade that includes installing fiber-optic cable and equipment at CTA rail stations, facilities and along tracks on the Yellow, Purple, Orange and Loop Elevated lines, as well as on the O’Hare branch of the Blue Line and at Howard on the Red Line. In addition, CTA is in the midst of a $12.7 million subway security project that includes installing security cameras at 22 stations.