Chicago "L"

Chicago "L"
A Pink Line train approaches Randolph/Wabash.
Overview
Locale	Chicago, Illinois, and suburbs, United States
Transit type	Rapid transit
Number of lines	8[1]
Line number	Blue Line      Brown Line      Green Line      Orange Line      Pink Line      Purple Line      Red Line      Yellow Line
Number of stations	146[1]
Daily ridership	400,000 (weekdays, Q2 2024)[2]
Annual ridership	117,447,000 (2023)[3]
Chief executive	Dorval R. Carter, Jr.
Headquarters	567 West Lake Street Chicago, Illinois
Website	www.transitchicago.com
Operation
Began operation	June 6, 1892; 132 years ago (1892-06-06)[1]
Operator(s)	Chicago Transit Authority
Technical
System length	102.8 mi (165.4 km)[1][note 1]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Minimum radius of curvature	90 feet (27.432 m)
Electrification	Third rail, 600 V DC
Top speed	55 mph (90 km/h)
System map Map of the Chicago "L" Show interactive map Show static map ‡ = temporarily closed for reconstruction Legend Linden Central ● Noyes Foster Davis Dempster Main Dempster–Skokie South Boulevard Oakton–Skokie Howard Jarvis Morse Kimball Loyola O'Hare Kedzie ● Rosemont Granville Cumberland Francisco Harlem Thorndale Harlem/Lake Rockwell Jefferson Park Bryn Mawr ● Oak Park Western ● ● Montrose Berwyn ‡ Ridgeland Damen ● ● Irving Park Argyle ● Austin Montrose ● ● Addison Lawrence ‡ ● Central Irving Park ● ● Belmont Wilson Laramie Addison ● Logan Square Sheridan ● Cicero Paulina ● California Addison ● ● Pulaski Southport ● Western Belmont ●●● Conservatory– Central Park Drive Wellington ● Damen Diversey ● Kedzie Fullerton Division Armitage ● California North/Clybourn ● Chicago Sedgwick ● Damen Clark/Division ● Grand Chicago ●● ●● Ashland Chicago ● Morgan Merchandise Mart ●● Clinton Grand ● Clark/Lake State/Lake Washington Lake Washington/​Wells Washington/​Wabash ● Monroe Monroe ● Quincy Adams/Wabash ● Jackson Jackson ● LaSalle/Van Buren Library LaSalle Harrison ● Clinton Roosevelt UIC–Halsted Halsted ● Racine Cermak–McCormick Place Polk Cermak–Chinatown Illinois Medical District Ashland ● 18th 35th–Bronzeville–IIT ● Western Sox–35th ● Damen 35th/Archer Kedzie–Homan Indiana ● Western Western ● ● Pulaski 43rd ● California Kedzie ● ● Cicero 47th ● ● Kedzie 47th ● ● Austin Pulaski ● Central Park 51st ● Oak Park Midway ● Pulaski Garfield ● Harlem Garfield ● Kostner Halsted ● Forest Park King Drive ● Cicero 63rd 54th/Cermak Ashland/63rd Cottage Grove 69th 79th 87th 95th/Dan Ryan Key Blue Line Pink Line Brown Line Purple Line Green Line Red Line Orange Line Yellow Line Two services share track Multiple services share track Weekday rush service only Boarding in one direction Show route diagram map

The Chicago "L" (short for "elevated")^[4] 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,^{[1][note 1]} and the third-busiest rapid transit system in the United States after the New York City Subway and the Washington Metro.^[5] 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.^[6] In 2023, the system had 117,447,000 rides, or about 400,000 per weekday in the second quarter of 2024.^[7]

The "L" provides 24-hour service on 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.^{[note 2]} The oldest sections of the Chicago "L" started operations in 1892,^[8] 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 the system run on elevated track.^[9][10] Portions of the network are in subway tunnels, at grade level, or in open cuts.^[1]

The "L" has been credited for fostering the growth of Chicago's dense city core that is one of the city's distinguishing features.^[11] 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 the expressway; it's 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.^[12] 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 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.^[13]

v t e Full Chicago 'L' system
Legend
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