Chicago Transit Authority

Todd DeFeo/Railfanning.org

An elevated train tools around the loop in downtown Chicago on April 6, 2006.

Railfanning.org

CHICAGO – The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the nation’s second largest public transit system, serving Chicago and 40 surrounding suburbs.

Each year, nearly two million customers use some combination of CTA, Pace and Metra to travel between destinations throughout the six-county region. CTA, an independent governmental agency, was created by state legislation.

Often referred to as the El, CTA began operations Oct. 1, 1947, though its history runs much deeper. CTA purchased the Chicago Rapid Transit Company, which operated from 1924 to 1947, and the Chicago Surface Lines.

The Chicago Rapid Transit Co. resulted as a merger between the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Co., which began operations in 1892; the Lake Street Elevated Railroad Co., which began operations in 1893; the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Co., which began operations in 1895; and the Northwestern Elevated Railroad Co., which began service in 1900.

Current CTA lines include:

The 54th/Cermak branch runs along 6.6 miles of track parallel to Cermak Road from the terminal at 54th/Cermak, east to Paulina, where it turns north and meets the Forest Park (Congress) branch of the Blue Line at Harrison Street.
Operating between downtown and the Northwest Side, the Brown Line was originally constructed in two phases opening for service in 1900 and 1907. The line is the third busiest of CTA’s rail lines, serving more than 66,000 customers each weekday, with 19 stations from Kimball on the north to the downtown Chicago Loop.
The Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line provides rapid transit service to the neighborhoods of Fuller Park, McKinley Park, Brighton Park, Garfield Park, Back of the Yards, Chinatown, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, Englewood, Gresham, Chatham, Greater Grand Crossing and Roseland among others. The branch also serves as a link to the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago State University, Kennedy-King College, Dawson Technical Institute and U.S. Cellular Field. The Dan Ryan branch provides more than 50,000 rides on an average weekday. In 2004, ridership for the year was 15,365,684. The Dan Ryan branch is part of the CTA's Red Line, the busiest rail line in the CTA rail system totaling 61,104,724 million rides in 2004.
The Purple Line extends from the Linden station in Wilmette to the Howard terminal in Chicago where customers can make connections with Red Line and Yellow Line trains. Purple Line Express trains operate Monday through Friday during morning and afternoon rush periods offering non-stop service from Howard to Belmont, then making all stops to the Loop. The Purple Line is the sixth busiest rail line in the CTA system, totaling 3,025,842 rides in 2004.
The new Pink Line will connect the former 54th/Cermak Blue Line to the Loop via a restored section of track known as the Paulina Connector. Currently the 54th/Cermak branch of the Blue Line serves customers along Cermak Avenue, turns near Paulina and joins the Forest Park branch along the Eisenhower Expressway to travel into the Loop through the Dearborn subway. Instead of traveling through the subway, the new experimental service will reroute 54th/Cermak trains to the elevated tracks using the recently rehabilitated track near Paulina Street. Trains will continue to travel along Paulina via the new connector tracks and join the Green Line at Lake Street to travel into the Loop in a clockwise direction on the elevated track.