Delivered to the CTA in 1964, they were built as married-pair sets, like the PCC-based 6000-series cars before them.

These cars were the baselines of future CTA cars to come, equipped with a futuristic look and modern technology: they were also extremely reliable, averaging 50,000 miles a year on busy lines such as the Lake–Dan Ryan Line.

The cars had a number of modern features for the time, including air conditioning, fluorescent lighting, large windows, and sculptured fiberglass front ends for the car bodies.

Over the decades, the completely new advances presented in the 2000-series cars for the time presented maintenance problems in the future; the aluminum bodies rusted quickly in the Chicago winters, while snow caused motors to short out and brakes to become non-functional (especially after the 1979 blizzard).

The superior construction of the 2200-series, with a flat sided stainless steel body, under-car air conditioning units (as opposed to the 2000s interior units), and more capable Budd Pioneer motors all contributed to the much longer lifespan of the 2200-series over the 2000-series; the final blow came when the Green Line closed for renovation, as the 2000-series were not considered capable enough for Red or Blue Line service.