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User:N. Paul Inast

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Wikipedia projects and goals

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  • copyediting
  • improving English WP articles on French subjects and French WP articles on American subjects, with transwiki translation as appropriate

current projects

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personal sandbox

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(where I might place not-ready-for-prime-time articles or sections...)

  • The Weeping Woman on the Streets of Prague (Dedalus, 1998)
  • Invitation to a Journey (Dedalus, 2003)
  • The Song of False Lovers (Dedalus, 2005)
  • The Book of Tobias (Dedalus, 2000)
  • The Medusa Child (Dedalus, 1998)
  • Infinite Possibilities (Dedalus, 1998)
  • Night of Amber (David R. Godine, 2000)
  • The Book of Nights (David R. Godine, 1993)
  • Days of Anger (Buccaneer Books, 1993)

Main article: List of Chicago Elevated stations

Jackson/State street stop on the Red Line.
A westbound Chicago Elevated crosses the south branch of the Chicago River.
Passengers wait for the Brown Line at Quincy station.
Two CTA trains approach the T-junction at the southeast corner of The Loop.

Currently, there are eight rail lines of the Chicago 'L' system. Since 1993 under Richard M. Daley, Mayor of Chicago, each rail line is classified by color and destination name:

"Loop" as a train destination means that the train enters the Loop elevated structure in downtown Chicago, does a complete circle, and then returns the way it came. Red Line and Blue Line trains serve the Loop area of Chicago through subway tunnels, while the Green Line enters the Loop elevated structure from the northwest and leaves toward the southeast (and vice versa).

Previously, the rail lines were given route names based on cardinal directions. For example, the present-day Blue Line was formerly the West-Northwest Route. Passengers were forced to rely on station platform signs to determine destinations of particular trains. Later, trains were given names based on the name of the branch, which was itself often -- but not always -- named for its terminal station. Hence the current Blue Line was known as "O'Hare–Congress–Douglas." Remnants of both naming systems can still be found in various locations on the system, and branch names are still used in CTA technical documents.

Branch names that were once used as destinations are as follows, with their replacement:

  • "Douglas" is now "54/Cermak" (Blue/Pink lines).
  • "Congress" is now "Forest Park" (Blue line).
  • "Ravenswood" is now "Kimball" (Brown line).
  • "Lake" is now "Harlem/Lake" (Green line).
  • "Englewood" is now "Ashland/63" (Green line).
  • "Jackson Park" is now "East 63rd" and no longer goes as far as Jackson Park (Green line).
  • "Evanston" is now "Linden" (Purple line).

The Yellow Line ("Skokie Swift") is an exception, as destination signs still read "Skokie." Since there is only one station on this line, however, and it is called "Skokie," no confusion is possible. If the Yellow Line is extended to Old Orchard shopping center or if other stations are opened, the Skokie station will presumably be renamed.

Almost all 'L' stations are named for a street, usually the one perpendicular to the rail line. As such, some confusion can arise, because there are, for example, four stations named Pulaski and five named Kedzie. It should also be noted that none of the three stations named Chicago lie within the official definition of the Chicago Loop, the area visitors often assume 'Chicago' refers to. These stations, in fact, refer to Chicago Avenue, which lies six city blocks (3/4 mile) north of the northern boundary of the Loop. Recently (July 2006), automated train announcements on the Red Line subway have announced Chicago station as "Chicago and State," perhaps as a clarification of this problem, or to avoid the giggly issue of saying "This is Chicago" when the rider has been within the municipal boundaries for his/her entire ride.

Five Chicago 'L' lines (Brown, Green, Orange, Pink, and Purple) converge in Chicago's central business district to form a small rectangular nexus around the district referred to as the "Loop", roughly 0.4 miles (650m long) east-to-west and 0.6 miles (960m) long north-to-south. These lines parallel Lake Street on the north, Wabash on the east, Van Buren on the south, and Wells on the west. 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. These are the only 24-hour lines in the system, but having them makes it distinctive, along with the New York City Subway and the Port Authority Trans-Hudson, as one of the few 24-hour rapid transit systems in the world. The Skokie Swift, a shuttle from Howard Street at the city's northernmost limit to Dempster Street in suburban Skokie, does not serve the vicinity of the Loop and is the only "L" line not to run on weekends.

Pink Line

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The CTA began a new route on June 25, 2006. The Pink Line is a rerouting of the 54/Cermak (formerly Douglas) branch of the Blue Line. It travels from the 54th/Cermak terminal in Cicero to the Polk station in Chicago. At this point, instead of joining the Forest Park (formerly Congress) branch of the Blue Line and proceeding toward downtown via the Dearborn Street subway, the Pink Line proceeds northward to join the western (Lake St.) branch of the Green Line and runs into the Loop elevated structure, proceeding clockwise before returning. The new route configuration serves 22 stations instead of 35 stations on the present 54th/Cermak-O'Hare Airport routing. It will operate during a 180-day trial period and is not permanent yet. During weekday rush periods, approximately one Blue Line train per half hour still serves the 54/Cermak branch.

The new routing has enabled the CTA to provide more frequent service to both of the former Blue Line branches (one train every 7.5 minutes during rush hours instead of one every 15 minutes) as well as providing a faster trip downtown for 54/Cermak users. On the other hand, Pink Line riders now have to transfer to access O'Hare airport and the Northwest side outside of rush hours, and have a less convenient transfer to the Red Line. The inauguration of the Pink Line required little infrastructure investment on the part of the CTA, as the Paulina connector has long been used as a service track. It has been rehabilitated in recent years.

Interestingly, the Pink Line routing was used between April 4, 1954 and June 22, 1958 during construction of the Eisenhower Expressway.

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