The Yellow Line, alternatively known as the Skokie Swift, is a branch of the Chicago "L" in Chicago, Illinois. The 4.7-mile (7.6 km) route runs from the Howard Terminal on the north side of Chicago, through the southern part of Evanston and to the Dempster Terminal in Skokie, Illinois making one intermediate stop at Oakton Street in Skokie.
The Blue Line is a 26.93-mile-long (43.34 km) Chicago "L" line which extends through The Loop from O'Hare International Airport at the far northwest end of the city, through downtown via the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway and across the West Side to its southwest end at Forest Park, with a total of 33 stations. At about 27 miles, it is the longest line on the Chicago "L" system and second busiest, and one of the longest local subway/elevated lines in the world. It has an average of 64,978 passengers boarding each weekday in 2021.
The Green Line is a rapid transit line in Chicago, Illinois, operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) as part of the Chicago "L" system. It is the only completely elevated route in the "L" system. All other routes may have various combinations of elevated, subway, street level, or freeway median sections.
The Richard B. Ogilvie Transportation Center, on the site of the former Chicago and North Western Terminal, is a commuter rail terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois. For the last century, this site has served as the primary terminal for the Chicago and North Western Railway and its successors Union Pacific and Metra. Intercity services had disappeared by the 1970s, but commuter services on the three ex-CNW mainlines, Metra's UP District lines, continue to terminate here. The tracks are elevated above street level. The old CNW terminal building was replaced in the mid 1980s with a modern skyscraper, the 500 West Madison Street building. The modern building occupies two square city blocks, bounded by Randolph Street and Madison Street to the north and south and by Canal Street and Clinton Street to the east and west. It is the second busiest rail station in Chicago, after nearby Union Station, the sixth-busiest railway station in North America, and the third-busiest station that exclusively serves commuter traffic.
Millennium Station is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metra Electric District to Chicago's southern suburbs, and the western terminus of the South Shore Line to Gary and South Bend, Indiana.
The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad, also known as the North Shore Line, was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service over an 88.9-mile (143.1 km) route between the Chicago Loop and downtown Milwaukee, as well as an 8.6-mile (13.8 km) branch line between the villages of Lake Bluff and Mundelein, Illinois. The North Shore Line also provided streetcar, city bus and motor coach services along its interurban route.
Wells Street Terminal was a stub-end downtown terminal on the 'L' in Chicago, Illinois, located at Wells Street between Jackson Boulevard and Van Buren Street. The terminal was in operation from 1904 to 1953.
The Chicago Central Area Transit Plan, generally referred to as the Chicago Central Area Transit Project (CCATP) in the 1970s, was an extensive study of the rapid transit system in downtown Chicago; the study had begun in 1965.
Randolph/Wabash was an elevated 'L' station in the Loop in Chicago. Located at Randolph Street and Wabash Avenue, it served trains running on the Chicago Transit Authority's Brown and Green Lines on the outer loop track, and the Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines on the inner loop track. Randolph/Wabash was the closest 'L' station to Metra's Millennium Station until its closure on September 3, 2017. The station was later demolished.
Fifth/Lake was a station on the Union Elevated Railroad's line, which is now part of the Loop section of the Chicago "L". The station was located at Fifth Avenue and Lake Street in downtown Chicago. Fifth/Lake opened on September 22, 1895, as one of three stations on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad's "Wabash extension". This extension became the Lake Street leg of the Loop upon its completion. Always intended to be temporary as Fifth Avenue was chosen to be the western leg of the Loop, the station closed on December 17, 1899, and was demolished shortly thereafter.
The Metropolitan main line was a rapid transit line of the Chicago "L" system from 1895 to 1958. It ran west from downtown to a junction at Marshfield station. At this point the Garfield Park branch continued westward, while the Douglas Park branch turned south, and the Logan Square branch turned north with the Humboldt Park branch branching from it. In addition to serving the Chicago "L", its tracks and those of the Garfield Park branch also carried the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad, an interurban that served Chicago's western suburbs, between 1905 and 1953.
The Lake–Dan Ryan Line was a rail rapid transit route formerly operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). The Lake–Dan Ryan Line existed from the opening of the Dan Ryan branch on September 28, 1969, until February 21, 1993. When created, the route united two transit corridors that until 1969 never had through rail service. This routing, which became known as the West-South route, operated from the Harlem terminal in Forest Park on the Lake Street "L" through downtown Chicago along the Union Loop "L", and then via the old South Side "L" and the new Dan Ryan Line to the 95th Street Terminal. The Lake–Dan Ryan service was planned in conjunction with the former Franklin Street Connector and Chicago Central Area Transit Project, both of which were never constructed. The section of the route between the junction with the South Side "L" at 17th and State Streets and the Cermak–Chinatown Station was originally an "interim", or temporary facility. It was planned to be torn down when the Loop Subway system was completed, but survived after the project was cancelled in 1979. That section was improved in the 1980s and early 1990s and is currently being used by the Orange Line. Train transfers are possible by using the two unused tracks.
The Lake Street Elevated, also known as the Lake branch, is a 8.75 mi (14.08 km) long branch of the Chicago "L" which is located west of the Chicago Loop and serves the Green Line for its entire length, as well as the Pink Line east of Ashland Avenue. As of February 2013, the branch serves an average of 27,217 passengers each weekday. It serves the Near West Side, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, and Austin neighborhoods of Chicago, as well as the suburbs Oak Park and Forest Park. It owes its name to Lake Street, the street that the branch overlooks for 6.25 mi (10.06 km) before continuing its route straight west, adjacent to South Boulevard, towards the terminus at Harlem/Lake.
The Franklin Street Terminal was a rapid transit station on the Chicago "L" that was the eastern terminus of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad from 1895 to 1897. The Metropolitan had intended to construct its eastern end at Fifth Avenue, a block east of Franklin Street, but right-of-way acquisition costs had proven prohibitive so it settled on Franklin Street to house its terminal and offices. Rather than demolish the buildings on the site, the company opted to gut their second and third floors and run its tracks through them.
The Randolph Street Branch and Cuyler Avenue Shuttle were two different incarnations of a rapid transit line operated in and around Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, by the Lake Street Elevated intermittently between 1899 and 1912. The Randolph Street Branch served as the line's westward extension to Wisconsin Avenue from Lombard Avenue, whereas the Cuyler Avenue Shuttle was intended to serve the Harlem Race Track. Local opposition resulted in the lines being discontinued.
The Market Street Terminal was a station on the Chicago "L"'s Lake Street Elevated – today part of the Green Line – between 1893 and 1948. The Elevated's original downtown terminus, it opened at the corner of Madison Street and Market Street on November 6, 1893, alongside the rest of the Elevated. When the Loop was constructed in 1895, the Terminal was required to be demolished but no action was taken. When it closed in 1948, only overflow traffic served it. It was demolished shortly thereafter for the construction of double-decked Wacker Drive.
Canal was a rapid transit station located on the Metropolitan main line of the Chicago "L" that was in service from 1895 to 1958, when the entire main line was replaced by the Congress Line located in the median of the nearby Eisenhower Expressway. Starting in 1927, the interurban Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad (CA&E) also served the station, continuing until 1953. The station connected with Chicago's Union Station, which was one of the city's rail terminals. One of the busiest stations on the Metropolitan's routes, and of the "L" in general, it opened a second entrance on Clinton Street in 1914.
In the first half of the 20th century, the four companies of the Chicago "L" and their successors each ran a terminal in Chicago's downtown in addition to the looping elevated trackage known as "the Loop" shared between all four of them. These terminals were the Congress Terminal of the South Side Elevated Railroad, the Market Street Terminal of the Lake Street Elevated, the eventual Wells Street Terminal of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad, and the North Water Terminal of the Northwestern Elevated Railroad. The Lake Street uniquely had an intermediate station on Randolph Street between its stub terminal and main line.
Campbell was a rapid transit station on the Chicago "L"'s Lake Street Elevated from 1893 to 1948.
The North Water Terminal was an "L" station on the North Side main line, located in the Near North Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. While the initial portion of the Northwestern Elevated (Loop–Wilson) opened in 1900, the terminal opened on November 17, 1908, to accommodate excess traffic in the downtown area. A walkway was provided to connect the terminal station to the nearby Merchandise Mart station.
