So the CTA does have to decrease the number of cars. Despite the rendering above looking like the garden will travel in the front it would actually be positioned in the middle. If the CTA didn’t subtract a train car then some stations passengers wouldn’t be able to enter or exit from certain cars because of the platform size. The same logic appears in reality every winter during the Holiday Train that the CTA puts on track. So since the flat car is significantly weighing less than a full train car my first guess is that it might be at least neutral – though this is something I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of as well and the information is very difficult to access through the busyness of the CTA and collecting the data. I submitted the question to them this past Spring.

The interior of the other train cars will have lots of native plant information. I take to heart that people could go there but that is for folks with more affluence to have leisure time, this garden truly reaches people because it is a part of the commute of the working class, students, and tourist as well.

I hope more of these details will help – the web site is in the process of being redesigned — answering questions like this on sites is certainly helpful and I totally appreciate you asking the questions that I’m sure are lurking in others minds as well

Joe-

in responding to vanillaface’s energy point you said this would be somehow a decrease in energy. unless there are so many plants that it\’s carbon negative to the extent that it offsets the energy required to pull an extra 20k pounds i’m not sure how you can possibly make that claim. the CTA certainly isn’t going to run with one less passenger car than normal to make up for the garden so it will certainly be adding weight. and of course there are construction costs to consider in the energy calculation. not to mention the labor/maintenance on the CTA’s part to make sure the garden car is where it’s supposed to be.

while i don’t know if i’d agree with xsimpletunx that it’s greenwashing, it certainly isn\’t *green* since it’s carbon positive. i’m not even entirely sure what the green message is.

the lurie garden in millenium park has local plants with information that people can walk through and learn about at their leisure.

i understand bringing greenspace to people but this seems like a carbon intensive way to do it and i’m not sure of the message or benefit of doing so since no one could physically interact with the garden or even view it for more than a few seconds.

perhaps hearing more details on the scope or intended impact of the project would help since those are missing from your website.

xsimpletunx, this is not greenwashing. this is first an art installation, that has been independently proposed and took me 1.5 years to even get the CTA to answer my calls/letters, let alone approve the project to move forward under conditions that any nfp artist would cringe at. Secondly I am genuinely interested in sustainable materials and promoting the use of native plants as the message behind the installation.

I hope these answers fulfill your questions and doubts. This project is a good idea and needs financial help. Period.