Presbyterian College > Academic Web Server > Jon Bell > Transit > (Cities | Types) > Chicago > CTA Orange Line

Chicago, Illinois: The Orange Line "L"

Description

The Chicago Transit Authority's Orange Line operates between Midway Airport in southwest Chicago, and the Loop "L" in downtown Chicago. It opened in 1993, and is the newest of Chicago's rapid transit lines, unless you count the newly-renovated Green Line which re-opened in 1996 after being closed for a few years.

I understand that the Orange Line was originally supposed to be a subway along Archer Avenue, but there wasn't enough money available to build that. Instead, the Orange Line follows a zig-zag path alongside the rights-of-way of several freight railroads. Bill Vandervoort's Chicago Transit & Railfan Web Site has a nice railfan's guide to the Orange Line, with pictures, which focuses on the freight railroads that can be seen from the Orange Line.

Pictures

[picture] Just south of the Loop, the Orange and Green Lines run on an elevated structure in an alleyway between State and Wabash Streets, squeezed between buildings on either side. This section was part of Chicago's first elevated railroad, built by the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Company and opened in 1892. [August 2001]

[picture] The Orange and Green Lines share the elevated Roosevelt/Wabash station. The area nearby has been recently redeveloped as a residential district. The Red Line subway runs underneath State Street, parallel to the elevated line and just in front of it in this picture; it also has a station at Roosevelt, connected to the Orange/Green Line station via a tunnel, escalators and elevators. [August 2001]

[picture] The 35th/Archer station is typical of the stations on the Orange Line, with functional no-frills architecture and facilities for buses. [August 1997]

[picture] The Orange Line crosses Archer Avenue on a high elevated viaduct. [August 1997]

[picture] Looking back from the Archer Avenue viaduct, we get a nice view of the downtown Chicago skyline. If you look carefully, you can see the 35th/Archer station behind the department store in the center of the picture. [August 1997]

[picture] an Orange Line train appears to pass right next to houses near 53rd Street in the Archer Park neighborhood near the Pulaski station. [August 1997]

[picture] | [picture] Two views of the platform at the Midway station. [August 1997]

[picture] Passengers puzzle out the ticket vending machines at the entrance to the Midway station. At this time [August 1997] the CTA had just switched over to using magnetic-stripe Transit Cards, replacing cash fares and tokens.

[picture] A view of the yard at Midway, as seen from the elevated walkway that connects the station with the airport terminal. [August 1997]

This page was last updated on 11 May 2007, and verified on 3 December 2007.

Presbyterian College > Academic Web Server > Jon Bell > Transit > (Cities | Types) > Chicago > CTA Orange Line

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