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25-531: The Lake Street branch, Chicago's second oldest elevated rail line, began operations on November 6, 1893, from Madison and Market Streets (present-day Wacker Drive) to California Avenue and Lake Street. It was built by the Lake Street Elevated Railroad Company and originally equipped with small 0-4-4T Forney type steam locomotives hauling wooden coaches. Electrification of the road was completed between 1894 and 1896. "L" service

50-418: A single Pullman-Standard 2000 ) were pushed further upwards, until they jackknifed and fell off the tracks. The second and third cars fell all the way to the street below, while the first car fell onto a track support structure. The fourth car (another 2000 connected to the third car), pulled forward by the third, was derailed and dangled between the track edge and surface street. The last four cars remained on

75-439: A tendency to talk to passengers while driving the train. It is theorized that, having made the normal station stop before the curve, Martin had caused the restrictive cab signal caused by the train ahead to be overridden. Distracted, he then left the station at under 15 miles per hour (24 km/h), which was slow enough not to trigger the automatic control, and then after the initial collision, panic or inertia caused him to move

100-585: A train on the Lake–Dan Ryan line was involved in the worst accident in CTA history, the Chicago Loop Derailment , where the train operator ignored a cab signal and rear ended a Ravenswood train parked at the nearby State/Lake station . This killed 11 and injured nearly 200 people. From 1969 to 1983, the 2000-series cars were used on the Lake–Dan Ryan route; from 1969 to 1983 the 2200-series ;

125-570: The 2400-series cars from 1983 to 1993; and finally the 2600-series cars from 1984 to 1993. Lake Street Elevated Railroad The Lake Street Elevated Railroad was the second permanent elevated rapid transit line to be constructed in Chicago , Illinois. The first section of the line opened in November 1893. Its route is still used today as part of the Green Line route of

150-471: The 95th Street Terminal , were designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill , under the direction of Myron Goldsmith who emphasized a modernist approach to their design in the fashion of his mentor and predecessor, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe . However, no station was planned at Roosevelt/Wabash (until 1987) because of its close proximity to the State Street subway , and because

175-458: The Chicago "L" system. The Lake Street Elevated Railway Company was chartered on February 7, 1888, and granted a 25-year franchise by the city council to build an elevated railroad above Lake Street from Canal Street to the city limits. It was originally planned that the line would use a steam-powered monorail system that had been developed by Joe Meigs in Cambridge, Massachusetts , however

200-547: The Cineston controller forward resulting in the derailment. Martin was fired six months after the accident, with the official investigation later faulting him for the derailment. As a result of the accident, the CTA forbade motormen to proceed past a red signal "on sight" without first getting permission from the Control Center. The Evanston Express was re-routed to the inner loop from the outer loop and an Iron Beam

225-722: The "L" was going to be torn down and Dan Ryan (and eventually Midway) service shifted into the Franklin Street Connector and into the Loop. It was also considered to route Dan Ryan service to the North Side before its construction from 1967 to 1969. Funding for the Kennedy and Dan Ryan rail projects would not allow for the necessary connections to the State Street subway at the time, so, it was decided to combine

250-647: The Howard and Dan Ryan branches, and lesser traffic on the Lake Street and South Side branches. In February 1993, the CTA overhauled its system and launched a color-coded route plan. In the process, the Lake–Dan Ryan route was split. The Lake Street branch running west of the Loop became a part of the Green Line , and the Dan Ryan branch running south of the Loop became a part of the Red Line . On February 4, 1977,

275-768: The Lake Street "L" with the new Dan Ryan Line uniting the West and South Sides of the City. On September 28, 1969, Lake–Dan Ryan service began from the 95th Street Terminal north to downtown Chicago via the Union Loop "L" and west to Harlem . Traffic on both legs of the Lake–Dan Ryan line was nearly level until the mid-1970s when passenger volumes began to shift on the West-South route and the North-South route (Howard–Englewood/Jackson Park), inclusive, with heavier traffic on

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300-668: The Lake–Dan Ryan train arrived on these tracks, and it too was required to stop and wait for the Ravenswood to clear the track before proceeding. At about 5:25 p.m., a Ravenswood train was waiting on the tracks, just past the northeast turn, waiting for the Evanston Express to clear the State/Lake platform . However, the Lake–Dan Ryan train did not stop as it approached the Ravenswood train. The Lake-Dan Ryan train proceeded against both track and cab signals and struck

325-402: The Loop instead of its normal clockwise route. This put it on the tracks normally used by the Ravenswood and westbound Lake–Dan Ryan trains. Because of congestion caused by this abnormal track sharing, the Ravenswood train would be required to stop short, waiting for the rerouted Evanston Express to clear before proceeding. Additionally, this delay meant that the Ravenswood was still in place when

350-399: The back of the Ravenswood train. This impact was at 10 miles per hour (16 km/h), as the train had only started off a few seconds earlier and was still halfway through pulling out of Randolph/Wabash . Passengers on the train reported the impact as nothing more than a "quiet thump." However, after the impact motorman Stephan A. Martin continued to apply traction power. This resulted in

375-416: The company eventually chose to use more traditional steam locomotives. Construction of the line began in 1889. Potential investors found the franchise too restrictive and a new 40 year franchise was awarded by the city council in November 1890, that allowed the railroad to extend to Market Street in downtown Chicago. By 1892 the company had debts of $ 17 million (equivalent to $ 576 million in 2023 ). It

400-522: The old Market Street stub in 1948. The western 2.6-mile (4.2 km) section between Laramie Avenue and the Forest Park terminal, which consisted of at-grade trackage, was elevated onto the adjacent Union Pacific Railroad embankment on October 28, 1962. The grade separation improvement (one of CTA's 1958 New Horizons programs) alleviated 22 street level crossings which plagued pedestrian, auto, and rapid transit movements for nearly 70 years. Following

425-559: The outer track, while the Evanston Express (current Purple Line) and Loop Shuttle operated clockwise opposite from the Ravenswood trains on the inner track. The Lake–Dan Ryan Line (part of the current Green Line ) operated in both directions, but only using the Lake and Wabash legs of the Loop. Earlier in the day of the accident, a switching issue forced dispatchers to reroute the Evanston Express to run counter-clockwise around

450-439: The rear cars continuing to push forwards, pinning the front of the train against the waiting Ravenswood on the right-angle turn of the track. With the front Lake–Dan Ryan train unable to move forward, the pressure from behind caused the coupling bar between the first two cars to bend and the coupled ends of those two cars to be pushed in the air. As motor power continued to be applied, the first three cars (two Budd 2200 units and

475-514: The rear train off the elevated tracks , killing 11 people and injuring at least 268 as the cars fell onto the street below. "The Loop" not only refers to Chicago 's central business district , which is known as the Chicago Loop , but also a rectangular pattern formed by the city's elevated trains . Some trains entering the Loop do a complete circuit around the entire rectangular "loop", and after turning around all four corners, leave on

500-458: The same path they came from. Other routes enter the Loop, turning only two of the corners, and then leave on a different route. Further complicating this is the fact that some trains' routes follow a clockwise pattern around the Loop, but others go counter-clockwise. In 1977, when the crash occurred, there were four lines operating on the Loop, each in a different direction. The Ravenswood Line (current Brown Line) operated counter-clockwise around

525-808: The successful introduction of the Congress Line in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway in June 1958, the City of Chicago began construction on two more expressway rapid transit extensions in 1967: the Milwaukee branch from Logan Square to Jefferson Park via Kennedy Expressway , and the Dan Ryan Expressway Line from 17th Street to 95th Street. The nine stations, located at Cermak–Chinatown , Sox–35th , 47th , Garfield , 63rd , 69th , 79th , 87th , and

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550-488: The track and still in Randolph/Wabash station. While "traces of THC " were found in one urine sample, "the extent to which [Martin] may have been under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident could not be determined by tests." Subsequent investigation revealed that Martin had a poor safety record, including reading while operating the train, and was responsible for an earlier derailment, and he had

575-686: Was sold to new owners, renamed the Lake Street Elevated Railroad Company, and a new charter was granted on August 24, 1892. The first section, running from the downtown terminal at Market Street and Madison to California Avenue opened to the public in October 1893. The line was completed to 52nd Avenue (Laramie) —a total length of 6.4 miles (10.3 km)—in April 1894. Service was extended to Austin Avenue in (what

600-545: Was subsequently extended west into the western suburbs of Oak Park in 1899 and Forest Park in 1910. The Lake Street branch was also the first "L" road to operate around the Union Loop "L" on September 3, 1897, five weeks before its official inauguration. Shortly after the CTA assumed control of the city's bus and rail systems, Lake Street service was changed with the closing of several stations (Morgan, Racine, Ogden, Damen, Oakley, Sacramento, Hamlin, Kostner, Menard, and Lombard) and

625-461: Was then) the suburb of Austin via a section of track built at-grade in April 1899. 1977 Chicago Loop derailment The 1977 Chicago Loop derailment occurred on February 4, 1977, when a Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ended another on the northeast corner of the Loop at Wabash Avenue and Lake Street during the evening rush hour . The collision forced the first four cars of

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