Chicago El
The Chicago 'L' (short for Chicago Elevated) is an urban rapid transit metro rail system serving Chicago and eight of its adjacent suburbs. Its oldest segments date to 1892, while its newest extension, the Orange Line to Midway Airport, opened in 1993.
In 2003, according to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), on average:
- 494,743 people rode the 'L' each weekday
- 262,791 rode each Saturday
- 180,951 rode each Sunday
While the 'L' is the most famous and distinctive of Chicagoland's mass transit offerings, most transit trips in the City of Chicago use the CTA's 148-route bus network at least in part, at about a 2-1 ratio.
Unlike many cities' systems, considerable parts of the "L" are elevated -- hence the system's nickname. Other parts of the 'L', though, reside in subways, at grade level, or in expressway medians. Chicago pioneered this last form of right-of-way in the 1950s. Regardless of altitude, Chicagoans refer their rapid transit system's entirety as "the 'L'".
In 1993, the CTA replaced the historical names of the 'L's seven lines, derived from a given line's terminals, with seven color names (listed in order of ridership):
- Red (formerly "Howard - Dan Ryan")
- Blue ("O'Hare - Congress - Douglas")
- Brown ("Ravenswood")
- Green ("Lake - Englewood - Jackson Park")
- Orange (new in 1993, no former name; direct connection to Midway Airport)
- Purple ("Evanston Express" and "Evanston Shuttle")
- Yellow ("Skokie Swift")
As part of the effort to make the 'L' easier to navigate for newcomers, current terminal or branch names for some lines have changed from the historical neighborhood names to terminal station names. The changes are:
- The "Douglas" branch of the Blue Line now carries "54th/Cermak" destination signs.
- The "Congress" branch of the Blue Line now carries "Forest Park" destination signs.
- The Brown Line towards Ravenswood now carries a "Kimball" destination sign.
- The "Lake" branch of the Green Line carries "Harlem/Lake" destination signs.
- The "Englewood" branch of the Green Line now carries "Ashland/63" destination signs.
- The "Jackson Park" branch of the Green Line now carries "East 63rd" destination signs and no longer goes as far as Jackson Park.
- The Purple Line toward Evanston now carries a "Linden" destination sign.
Four 'L' lines (Brown, Green, Orange, and Purple) converge in Chicago's central business district to form a rectangular "Loop" roughly 500m long east-to-west and 900m long north-to-south. While many believe that the city's center earned the name "Loop" from this very conspicuous section of the 'L', the term actually predates the 'L' and refers to a now-retired circular routing of streetcars through downtown.
The Red and Blue lines serve the heart of Chicago via subways under State and Dearborn streets, respectively. The Skokie Swift, a shuttle from Howard Street at the city's northmost limit to Dempster Street in suburban Skokie, does not serve the vicinity of the Loop.
Connections to commuter rail, intercity rail, intercity bus and airports:
- Chicago Union Station, terminal for all Amtrak and many Metra trains, is closest to the 'L's Clinton (Blue Line) and Quincy (Loop Brown, Orange, and Purple Line) stations.
- Chicago Ogilvie Transportation Center (formerly Northwestern Station), terminal for many Metra trains, is closest to the 'L's Clinton (Green Line) and Washington (Loop Brown, Orange and Purple Line) stations.
- Chicago Randolph Station, terminal for Metra Electric and South Shore/South Bend trains, is closest to the 'L's Randolph (Loop Brown, Orange, Green and Purple Line) station.
- Chicago LaSalle Street Station, terminal for many Metra trains, is closest to the 'L's LaSalle (Blue Line) and LaSalle (Loop Brown, Orange and Purple Line) stations.
- The downtown Chicago Greyhound bus terminal is near the 'L's Clinton (Blue Line) station.
- The 'L' directly serves both O'Hare Airport (Blue Line) and Midway Airport (Orange Line).
Outlying transfer points between 'L' trains and Metra:
- Main St, Purple Line / Main St, Metra UP-N
- Davis St, Purple Line / Main St, Metra UP-N
- Irving Park, Blue Line / Irving Park UP-NW
- Montrose, Blue Line / Mayfair, Metra MD-N
- Jefferson Park, Blue Line / Jefferson Park UP-NW
- Kedzie, Green Line / Kedzie UP-W
- Harlem, Green Line / Oak Park UP-W
- Western, Blue Line (Douglas Branch) / Western Ave BNSF
- Damen, Brown Line / Ravenswood, Metra UP-N
Outlying transfer points between 'L' trains and Greyhound Lines bus service:
- Chicago 95th and Dan Ryan destination is near the 95th (Red Line) station.
- Cumberland destination is closest to the Cumberland (Blue Line) station.
- Chicago Latinos destination is closest to the California (Blue Line-Douglas Branch) station.
- Skokie destination is near the Skokie (Yellow Line) station.
Suburbs served by the L, in alphabetical order:
List of stations:
