77-559: The Chicago " L " (short for " elevated ") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois . Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it is the fourth-largest rapid transit system in the United States in terms of total route length, at 102.8 miles (165.4 km) long as of 2014, and the third-busiest rapid transit system in
154-458: A suspension railway . Elevated railways are normally found in urban areas where there would otherwise be multiple level crossings . Usually, the tracks of elevated railways that run on steel viaducts can be seen from street level. The earliest elevated railway was the London and Greenwich Railway on a brick viaduct of 878 arches, built between 1836 and 1838. The first 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of
231-585: A 54% increase in weekday riders since 1992. On the other hand, weekday ridership on the South Side portion of the Green Line, which closed for two years for reconstruction from January 1994 to May 1996, was 50,400 in 1978 but only 13,000 in 2006. Boardings at the 95th/Dan Ryan stop on the Red Line, though still among the system's busiest at 11,100 riders per weekday as of February 2015, are less than half
308-672: A campaign for longer streetcar franchises in 1895, but Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld vetoed the franchise bills. Yerkes renewed the campaign in 1897, and, after a hard-fought struggle, secured from the Illinois Legislature a bill granting city councils the right to approve extended franchises. The so-called franchise war then shifted to the Chicago City Council — a venue in which Yerkes ordinarily thrived. A partially reformed council and Mayor Carter Harrison Jr. , however, ultimately defeated Yerkes, with
385-747: A financial agent for the City of Philadelphia's treasurer, Joseph Marcer, Yerkes risked public money in a large-scale stock speculation. This speculation ended calamitously when the Great Chicago Fire started a financial panic. Left insolvent and unable to make payment to the City of Philadelphia, Yerkes was convicted of larceny and sentenced to thirty-three months in Eastern State Penitentiary . In an attempt to remain out of prison, he attempted to blackmail two influential Pennsylvania politicians. The blackmail plan initially failed;
462-677: A flat fare of $ 2.50 for almost the entire system, the only exception being O'Hare International Airport on the Blue Line, at which passengers entering the station are charged a higher fare of $ 5.00 (passengers leaving the system at this station are not charged this higher fare). The higher fare is being charged for what the CTA considers "premium-level" service to O'Hare. Use of the Midway International Airport Station does not require this higher fare; it only requires
539-431: A majority of Chicago's street railway systems on the north and west sides. Yerkes was not averse to using bribery and blackmail to obtain his objectives. In an effort to improve his public reputation, Yerkes decided in 1892 to fund the world's largest telescope after being lobbied by the astronomer George Ellery Hale and University of Chicago president William Rainey Harper . He had intended initially to finance only
616-461: A model for Theodore Dreiser 's novels The Financier , The Titan , and The Stoic , in which Yerkes was fictionalized as Frank Cowperwood. The crater Yerkes on the Moon is named in his honor. Pictures of Yerkes and his second wife Mary were painted by his favorite artist Jan van Beers (National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. ). His wife, the daughter of Thomas Moore of Philadelphia,
693-568: A pivotal role in the development of the London Underground , and who was immortalized by Theodore Dreiser as the ruthless schemer Frank Cowperwood in The Titan (1914) and other novels. Yerkes, who controlled much of the city's streetcar system, obtained the necessary signatures through cash and guile—at one point he secured a franchise to build a mile-long "L" over Van Buren Street from Wabash Avenue to Halsted Street, extracting
770-639: A publisher's editor in New York or some other east coast city; in Chicago the same expression is routinely rendered 'L'." As used by CTA, the name is rendered as the capital letter 'L', in single quotation marks. "L" (with double quotation marks) was often used by CTA predecessors such as the Chicago Rapid Transit Company; however, the CTA uses single quotation marks (') on some printed materials and signs rather than double. In Chicago,
847-498: A secondary purpose of serving as bomb shelters, as evidenced by the close spacing of the support columns (a more extensive plan proposed replacing the entire elevated system with subways). The subways bypassed a number of tight curves and circuitous routings on the original elevated lines (Milwaukee trains, for example, originated on Chicago's northwest side but entered the Loop at the southwest corner), speeding service for many riders. By
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#1732780926435924-472: A station reconstruction project to accommodate longer trains. Annual traffic on the Howard branch of the Red Line, which reached 38.7 million in 2010 and 40.9 million in 2011, has exceeded the 1927 prewar peak of 38.5 million. The section of the Blue Line between the Loop and Logan Square , which serves once-neglected but now bustling neighborhoods such as Wicker Park , Bucktown , and Palmer Square , has seen
1001-645: A telescope but agreed eventually to fund an entire observatory . He contributed more than $ 500,000 to the University of Chicago to establish what would become known as Yerkes Observatory , located in Williams Bay , Wisconsin . In 1895, Yerkes purchased the Republican partisan newspaper, the Chicago Inter Ocean , using the publication to publicize his political agenda. Yerkes began
1078-539: A third. By the 1950s, the service was used throughout the system. All lines used the A/B skip-stop service between the 1950s and the 1990s with the exception of the Evanston and Skokie lines, which were suburban-only lines and did not justify skip-stop service. On the lines with branches, skip-stop service sent all "A" trains to one branch and "B" trains to another branch. On what became the Blue Line, "A" trains were routed on
1155-989: Is Tokyo's driverless Yurikamome line, opened in 1995. Most monorails are elevated railways, such as the Disneyland Monorail System (1959), the Tokyo Monorail (1964), the Sydney Monorail (1988–2013), the KL Monorail , the Las Vegas Monorail , the Seattle Center Monorail and the São Paulo Monorail . Most maglev railways are also elevated. During the 1890s there was some interest in suspension railways , particularly in Germany, with
1232-485: Is a type of driverless grade-separated, mass-transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems that serve as loops or feeder systems, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated systems. Similar to monorails, Bombardier Innovia APM technology uses only one rail to guide the vehicle along the guideway. APMs are common at airports and effective at helping passengers quickly reach their gates. Several elevated APM systems at airports including
1309-546: Is currently focused on eliminating slow zones, modernizing the Red, Blue, and Purple lines, and improving "L" stations. In addition, CTA has studied numerous other proposals for expanded rail service and renovations, some of which may be implemented in the future. During the 2000s and 2010s, the CTA has completed several renovation and new construction projects. Pink Line service began on June 25, 2006, though it did not include any new tracks or stations. The Pink Line travels over what
1386-666: The Barbizon School . In 1904, he published a two volume catalog of his collection, which by that time was in New York: In August 1900, Yerkes became involved with the development of the London underground railway system after riding along the route of one proposed line and surveying the city of London from the summit of Hampstead Heath . He established the Underground Electric Railways Company of London to take control of
1463-704: The Berlin Stadtbahn (1882) and the Vienna Stadtbahn (1898) are also mainly elevated. The first electric elevated railway was the Liverpool Overhead Railway , which operated through Liverpool docks from 1893 until 1956. In London, the Docklands Light Railway is a modern elevated railway that opened in 1987 and has since expanded. The trains are driverless and automatic. Another modern elevated railway
1540-617: The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad , Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad , and South Shore interurban lines, and ran the trains of the first two into downtown Chicago via the "L" tracks. This period of relative prosperity ended when Insull's empire collapsed in 1932, but later in the decade the city with the help of the federal government accumulated sufficient funds to begin construction of two subway lines to supplement and, some hoped, permit eventual replacement of
1617-965: The Congress Street Terminal 14 minutes later, over tracks that are still in use by the Green Line. Over the next year, service was extended to 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue , then the Transportation Building of the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park . In 1893, trains began running on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad and in 1895 on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated , which had lines to Douglas Park, Garfield Park (since replaced), Humboldt Park (since demolished), and Logan Square. The Metropolitan
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#17327809264351694-595: The Dakota Territory to obtain a divorce from his wife. Later that year, he remarried and relocated to Chicago . There, he opened a stock and grain brokerage but soon became involved with planning the city's public transportation system. In 1886, Yerkes and his business partners used a complex financial deal to acquire control of the North Chicago Street Railway and then followed this with a series of further takeovers until he controlled
1771-719: The District Railway and the partly built Baker Street and Waterloo Railway , Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway , and Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway . Yerkes employed complex financial arrangements similar to those that he had used in the United States to raise the funds necessary to construct the new lines and electrify the District Railway (known presently as the District line ). In one of his last great triumphs, Yerkes managed to thwart an attempt by J. P. Morgan to become involved with
1848-801: The Green Line , the Purple Line and the Douglas branch of the Blue Line (the modern-day Pink Line ) also had 24 hour service. In the years of private ownership, the South Side Elevated Railroad (now the South Side Elevated portion of the Green Line) provided 24 hour service, a major advantage when compared to Chicago's cable railroads which required daily overnight shutdown for cable maintenance. In 2015,
1925-508: The London and Blackwall Railway (1840) was also built on a viaduct. During the 1840s there were other plans for elevated railways in London that never came to fruition. From the late 1860s onward, elevated railways became popular in US cities. New York's West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway opened in 1868 as a cable-hauled elevated railway and was operated using locomotives after 1871, when it
2002-633: The PHX Sky Train at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; AeroTrain at Kuala Lumpur International Airport; and the Tracked Shuttle System at London Gatwick Airport , United Kingdom. Charles Yerkes Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr. ( / ˈ j ɜːr k iː z / YUR -keez ; June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier. He played a part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London . Yerkes
2079-650: The Schwebebahn Dresden , (1891–) and the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (1901). H-Bahn suspension railways were built in Dortmund and Düsseldorf airport , 1975. The Memphis Suspension Railway opened in 1982. Suspension railways are usually monorail; Shonan Monorail and Chiba Urban Monorail in Japan, despite their names, are suspension railways. People mover or automated people mover (APM)
2156-469: The expressway ; its general use of alleyways instead of streets throughout its history, and expressway mediums after the war, better knit the system into the city, and in pioneering ways. It consists of eight rapid transit lines laid out in a spoke–hub distribution paradigm focusing transit towards the Loop . In a 2005 poll, Chicago Tribune readers voted it one of the "seven wonders of Chicago", behind
2233-608: The lakefront and Wrigley Field , and ahead of Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower), the Water Tower , the University of Chicago , and the Museum of Science and Industry . The first "L", the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad , began revenue service on June 6, 1892, when a steam locomotive pulling four wooden coaches, carrying more than a couple of dozen people, departed the 39th Street station and arrived at
2310-421: The "L", the CTA introduced A/B skip-stop service. Under this service, trains were designated as either "A" or "B" trains, and stations were alternately designated as "A" stations or "B" stations, with heavily used stations designated as both – "AB". "A" trains would stop only at "A" and "AB" stations, and "B" trains would stop only at "B" and "AB" stations. Station signage carried the station's skip-stop letter and
2387-607: The $ 2.50 regular fare. The higher charge at O'Hare has been the source of some controversy in recent years, because of the CTA's plan to eliminate the exemption from the premium fare for airport workers, Transportation Security Administration workers, and airline workers. After protests from those groups, the CTA extended the exemptions for six months. Since 1993, "L" lines have been officially identified by color, although older route names survive to some extent in CTA publications and popular usage to distinguish branches of longer lines. Stations are found throughout Chicago, as well as in
Chicago "L" - Misplaced Pages Continue
2464-551: The 1940s, the financial condition of the "L", and of Chicago mass transit in general, had become too precarious to permit continued operation without subsidies, and the necessary steps were taken to enable a public takeover. In 1947, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) acquired the assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines , operator of the city's streetcars. Over
2541-489: The 1990s, use of the A/B skip-stop system was only used during rush hour service. Another problem was that trains skipping stations to save time still could not pass the train that was directly ahead, so skipping stations was not advantageous in all regards. In 1993, the CTA began to eliminate skip-stop service when it switched the southern branches of the West-South and North-South Lines to improve rider efficiency, creating
2618-450: The 3200-series and 5000-series. The design and arrangement of seats were modified to improve ergonomics and increase leg room. Enhanced air conditioning will circulate air more efficiently during hot summer days. Laser sensors above the doors will count the number of passengers, allowing the CTA to track passenger volumes and change its schedules accordingly. State-owned manufacturer CRRC Sifang America (China Rail Rolling Stock Corporation) won
2695-450: The 7000-series cars commenced in June 2019. This is the first time in more than 50 years CTA rail cars are manufactured in Chicago. Ten cars in the 7000-series began testing revenue service on April 21, 2021. The base order is for 400 cars and will be used to replace the 2600-series cars. If the CTA ordered the additional 446 cars, they would also replace the 3200-series cars. In May 2023,
2772-758: The Brown Line in April 2008. The project was completed in December 2009, on time and on budget, with only minor punch list work remaining. The project's total cost was expected to be around $ 530 million. Elevated railway An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train or el for short) is a railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks). The railway may be broad-gauge , standard-gauge or narrow-gauge railway, light rail , monorail , or
2849-488: The CTA announced it has received $ 200 million funding from the Federal Transit Authority; this money will go towards the development of the 9000-series rail cars. The plan is to acquire up to 300 new train sets. Chicago's rapid-transit system is officially nicknamed the "L". This name for the CTA rail system applies to the whole system: its elevated, subway, at-grade, and open-cut segments. The use of
2926-461: The CTA introduced a new fare payment system called Ventra . Ventra enables passengers to purchase individual tickets, passes, or transit value online, by smart phone, or at participating retail locations. Ventra also works with CTA buses, Pace (suburban buses), and Metra (commuter rail). Payment by a smartphone app, the Ventra app, or by a contactless bankcard is possible. As of 2018, the "L" uses
3003-573: The Chicago Edison electric utility (now Commonwealth Edison ), whose interest stemmed initially from the fact that the trains were the city's largest consumer of electricity. Insull instituted many improvements, including free transfers and through routing, although he did not formally combine the original firms into the Chicago Rapid Transit Company until 1924. He also bought three other Chicago electrified railroads,
3080-705: The Congress branch while "B" trains were sent to the Douglas branch. On the North-South Line, "A" trains went to the Englewood branch and "B" trains went to the Jackson Park branch. In both cases, individual stops were not skipped beyond the points where those branches diverged. As time went by, the time periods which employed skip-stop service gradually decreased, as the waits at "A" and "B" stations became increasingly longer during non-peak service. By
3157-518: The London underground railway. Yerkes did not live to see his London tube lines in operation. The now Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines opened in 1906, a few months after his death, and the Charing Cross line (now part of the Northern line ) the next summer. Yerkes died in the hotel Waldorf Astoria in New York on December 29, 1905, of kidney disease . The events of Yerkes's life served as
Chicago "L" - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-634: The Loop elevated; as early as the 1920s some city leaders wanted to replace the "ugly" elevated tracks and these plans advanced in the 1970s under mayors Richard J. Daley and Michael Bilandic until a public outcry against tearing down the popular "L" began, led by Chicago Tribune columnist Paul Gapp , and architect Harry Weese . Instead, then new Mayor Jane Byrne protected the elevated lines and directed their rehabilitation. The State Street subway opened on October 17, 1943. The Dearborn Subway, on which work had been suspended during World War II , opened on February 25, 1951. The subways were constructed with
3311-604: The Milwaukee elevated into the Kennedy Expressway in 1970. As of 2014, Chicago "L" trains run over a total of 224.1 miles (360.7 km) of track. Ridership has been growing steadily after the CTA takeover despite declining mass transit usage nationwide, with an average of 594,000 riders boarding each weekday in 1960 and 759,866 in 2016 (or 47% of all CTA rides). Due to the Loop Flood in April 1992, ridership
3388-503: The Red Line Dan Ryan branch reconstruction. The Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project enabled CTA to run eight-car trains on the Brown Line, and rebuilt stations to modern standards, including accessibility. Before the project, Brown Line platforms could only accommodate six-car trains, and increasing ridership led to uncomfortably crowded trains. After several years of construction, eight-car trains began to run at rush hour on
3465-488: The Red and Blue Lines, making Chicago, New York City, and Copenhagen the only three cities in the world to offer 24-hour train service on some of their lines throughout their respective city limits. The oldest sections of the Chicago "L" started operations in 1892, making it the second-oldest rapid transit system in the Americas, after New York City's elevated lines . The "L" gained its name from "el" because large parts of
3542-542: The United States after the New York City Subway and the Washington Metro . As of January 2024, the "L" had 1,480 rail cars operating across eight different routes on 224.1 miles of track. CTA trains make about 1,888 trips each day servicing 146 train stations. In 2023, the system had 117,447,000 rides, or about 416,200 per weekday in the third quarter of 2024. The "L" provides 24-hour service on
3619-424: The age of 17 as a clerk for a local grain brokerage. In 1859, aged 22, he began his own brokerage business and registered with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange . By 1865, he had begun banking and specialized in selling municipal, state, and government bonds. Relying on his bank president father's associations, his political acquaintances, and his own acumen, Yerkes became well-known as a businessman. While serving as
3696-466: The completion of the order of the 2600-series cars, Budd changed its name to Transit America and ceased production of railcars. With 509 cars in operation, the 2600-series is the largest of the three series of "L" cars in operation. The cars were rebuilt by Alstom of Hornell, New York , from 1999 until 2002. The 3200-series , was built from 1992 until 1994 by Morrison-Knudsen of Hornell, New York. These cars have fluted, stainless steel sides similar to
3773-486: The contract, besting the other major competitor, Bombardier from Canada by $ 226 million. Concerns have been raised over possible malware, cyber attacks, and mass surveillance by the Chinese government. The computer and software components and the automatic train control system will be made by U.S. and Canadian firms. The cars are being built at a new CRRC Sifang America rail car manufacturing plant at 13535 South Torrence Avenue in Chicago's Hegewisch neighborhood. Production of
3850-413: The conversion of the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line and the Howard branch of the Red Line to all-stop service. The removal of skip-stop service resulted in some increases in travel times, and greatly increased ridership at former "A" and "B" stations due to increased train frequencies. Station signage highlighting the former skip-stop patterns would remain into the 2000s, when it was gradually replaced across
3927-401: The current Red and Green Lines. From this point, Green Line trains made all stops along the entire route, while Red Line trains stopped at all stations south of Harrison . The elimination of A/B skip-stop service continued with the opening of the all-stop Orange Line and the conversion of the Brown Line to all-stop service. In April 1995, the last of the A/B skip-stop system was eliminated with
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#17327809264354004-422: The damaging information concerning the politicians was eventually made public and politicians, including then-President Ulysses S. Grant , feared that the revelations might harm their prospects during the upcoming elections. Yerkes was promised a pardon if he would deny the accusations he had made. He agreed to these terms and was released after serving seven months in prison. In 1881 Yerkes traveled to Fargo in
4081-451: The highest level since the station opened in 1969. The 2003 Chicago Central Area Plan proposed construction of a Green Line station at Cermak , between Chinatown and the McCormick Place convention center, in expectation of continued density growth in the vicinity. This station opened in 2015. Currently, the Red Line and the Blue Line provide 24-hour service, while all other lines operate from early morning to late night. Prior to 1998,
4158-494: The line opened. In discussing various stylings of "Loop" and "L" in Destination Loop: The Story of Rapid Transit Railroading in and around Chicago (1982), author Brian J. Cudahy quotes a passage from The Neon Wilderness (1947) by Chicago author Nelson Algren : "beneath the curved steel of the El, beneath the endless ties." Cudahy then comments, "Note that in the quotation above ... it says 'El' to mean 'elevated rapid transit railroad.' We trust that this usage can be ascribed to
4235-537: The loan exhibition of French art. Because the subject matter was controversial, Yerkes initially refused the works, but he soon changed his mind and acquired two Rodin marbles, Cupid and Psyche and Orpheus , for his Chicago mansion, the first two of Rodin's works known to have been sold to an American collector. Yerkes' art collection also included paintings by Frans Hals , works by the French academic painters, such as Pygmalion and Galatea by Jean-Léon Gérôme and works by William-Adolphe Bouguereau and members of
4312-498: The next few years CTA modernized the "L", replacing wooden cars with new steel ones and closing lightly used branch lines and stations , many of which had been spaced only a quarter-mile apart. The CTA introduced fare cards for the first time in 1997. Rail service to the O'Hare International Airport first opened in 1984 and to the Midway International Airport in 1993. That same year, the CTA renamed all of its rail lines; they are now identified by color. Later, after assuming control of
4389-402: The nickname dates from the earliest days of the elevated railroads. Newspapers of the late 1880s referred to proposed elevated railroads in Chicago as " 'L' roads." The first route to be constructed, the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad gained the nickname "Alley Elevated", or "Alley L" during its planning and construction, a term that was widely used by 1893, less than a year after
4466-551: The now-retired 2200-series . The 5000-series train cars are equipped with AC propulsion; interior security cameras; aisle-facing seating, which allow for greater passenger capacity; LED destination signs, interior readouts, and interior maps; GPS; glow-in-the-dark evacuation signs; operator-controlled ventilation systems; among other features. AC propulsion allows for smoother acceleration, lower operational costs, less wear and tear, and greater energy efficiency. The AC propulsion can take advantage of regenerative braking , meaning
4543-503: The peak volume in the 1980s. In 1976, three North Side "L" branches – what were then known as the Howard, Milwaukee, and Ravenswood lines − accounted for 42% of non-downtown boardings. Today (with the help of the Blue Line extension to O'Hare), they account for 58%. The North Side, which has historically been the highest density area of the city, reflects the Chicago building boom between 2000 and 2010, which has focused primarily on North Side neighborhoods and downtown. It may ease somewhat in
4620-408: The rapid transit system's convenience. Operation on the Yerkes-owned Northwestern Elevated , which built the North Side "L" lines, began three years later, essentially completing the elevated infrastructure in the urban core although extensions and branches continued to be constructed in outlying areas through the 1920s. After 1911, the "L" lines came under the control of Samuel Insull , president of
4697-406: The requisite majority from the pliable owners on the western half of the route, then building tracks chiefly over the eastern half, where property owners had opposed him. Designed by noted bridge builder John Alexander Low Waddell , the elevated tracks used a multiple close-rivet system to withstand the forces of the passing trains' kinetic energy. The Union Loop opened in 1897 and greatly increased
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#17327809264354774-441: The suburbs of Forest Park , Oak Park , Evanston , Wilmette , Cicero , Rosemont , and Skokie . The CTA operates over 1,350 "L" cars, divided among four series, all of which are semi-permanently coupled into married pairs. All cars on the system utilize 600- volt direct current power delivered through a third rail . The 2600-series was built from 1981 until 1987 by the Budd Company of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. After
4851-447: The swing votes coming from aldermen "Hinky Dink" Kenna and "Bathhouse" John Coughlin . In 1899, Yerkes sold the majority of his Chicago transport stocks and relocated to New York . While living in Chicago, Yerkes became an art collector, relying on Sarah Tyson Hallowell (1846–1924) to advise him for his purchases. After the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 , she tried to interest him in the works of Auguste Rodin , which were part of
4928-557: The system due to deteriorated track, structure, and other problems. By October 2008, system-wide slow zones had been reduced to 9.1% and by January 2010, total slow zones were reduced to 6.3%. CTA's Slow Zone Elimination Project is an ongoing effort to restore track work to conditions where trains no longer have to reduce speeds through deteriorating areas. The Loop received track work in 2012–2013. The Purple Line in Evanston received track work and viaduct replacement in 2011–2013. The Green Line Ashland branch received track work in 2013, prior to
5005-428: The system run on elevated track. Portions of the network are in subway tunnels, at grade level, or in open cuts. The "L" has been credited for fostering the growth of Chicago's dense city core that is one of the city's distinguishing features. And according to urban engineer Christof Speiler, the system stands out in the United States because it continued to invest in services even through the post-World-War era growth of
5082-479: The system. The first air-conditioned cars were introduced in 1964. The last pre–World War II cars were retired in 1973. New lines were built in expressway medians, a technique implemented in Chicago and followed by other cities worldwide. The Congress branch, built in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, replaced the Garfield Park "L" in 1958. The Dan Ryan branch, built in the median of the Dan Ryan Expressway, opened on September 28, 1969, followed by an extension of
5159-418: The term "subway" only applies to the State Street and Milwaukee–Dearborn subways and is not applied to the entire system as a whole, as in New York City where both the elevated and underground portions make up the New York City Subway . Like other large and aging rapid transit systems, the Chicago "L" faces problems of delays, breakdowns, and a multi-billion-dollar backlog of deferred maintenance. The CTA
5236-401: The train returns excess energy to the third rail as it slows down. With the DC propulsion of the previous series, they utilize dynamic braking which converts the excess kinetic energy into heat within a resistor bank. Next-generation train cars, the 7000-series , have been ordered and are beginning to enter service. Each 7000-series rail car will feature LEDs, 37 to 38 seats, and is a hybrid of
5313-401: The wake of the current high level of residential construction along the south lakefront. For example, ridership at the linked Roosevelt stops on the Green, Orange, and Red Lines, which serve the burgeoning South Loop neighborhood, has tripled since 1992, with an average of 8,000 boardings per weekday. Patronage at the Cermak- Chinatown stop on the Red Line, with 4,000 weekday boardings, is at
5390-467: The world's rapid transit systems. A drawback of early "L" service was that none of the lines entered the central business district. Instead trains dropped passengers at stub terminals on the periphery due to a state law at the time requiring approval by neighboring property owners for tracks built over public streets, something not easily obtained downtown. This obstacle was overcome by the legendary traction magnate Charles Tyson Yerkes , who went on to play
5467-417: Was also color-coded by skip-stop type; "A" stations had red signage, "B" stations had green signage, and "AB" stations had blue signage. The system was designed to speed up lines by having trains skip stations while still allowing for frequent service at the heavily used "AB" stations. A/B skip-stop service debuted on the Lake Street Elevated in 1948, and the service proved effective as travel times were cut by
5544-572: Was at 418,000 that year because CTA was forced to suspend operation for several weeks in both the State and Dearborn subways, used by the most heavily traveled lines. Growing ridership has not been uniformly distributed. Use of North Side lines is heavy and continues to grow, while that of West Side and South Side lines tend to remain stable. Ridership on the North Side Brown Line, for instance, has increased 83% since 1979, necessitating
5621-579: Was born into a Quaker family in the Northern Liberties , a district adjacent to Philadelphia , on June 25, 1837. His mother, Elizabeth Link Yerkes, died of puerperal fever when he was five years old, and soon thereafter his father Charles Tyson Yerkes Sr. remarried a non-Quaker and was therefore expelled from the Society of Friends . After finishing a two-year course at Philadelphia's Central High School , Yerkes began his business career at
5698-481: Was demolished to make way for the Eisenhower Expressway. The new route, which serves 22 stations, offered more frequent service for riders on both the Congress and Douglas branches. Pink Line trains could be scheduled independently of Blue Line trains, and ran more frequently than the Douglas branch of the Blue Line did. In late 2007, trains were forced to operate at reduced speed over more than 22% of
5775-634: Was formerly a branch of the Blue Line from the 54th/Cermak terminal in Cicero to the Polk station in Chicago. Pink Line trains then proceed via the Paulina Connector to the Lake Street branch of the Green Line and then clockwise around the Loop elevated via Lake-Wabash-Van Buren-Wells. Douglas trains used the same route between April 4, 1954, and June 22, 1958, after the old Garfield Park "L" line
5852-765: Was renamed the New York Elevated Railroad. This was followed in 1875 by the Manhattan Railway Company , which took over the New York Elevated Railroad. Other early elevated systems in the US included the Chicago "L" , which was built by multiple competing companies beginning in 1892, as well as the Boston Elevated Railway in 1901 and the Market–Frankford Line in Philadelphia in 1907. Globally,
5929-532: Was the United States' first non-exhibition rapid transit system powered by electric traction motors , a technology whose practicality had been demonstrated in 1890 on the "intramural railway" at the World Fair that had been held in Chicago. Two years later the South Side "L" introduced multiple-unit control , in which the operator can control all the motorized cars in a train, not just the lead unit. Electrification and MU control remain standard features of most of
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