Orange Line (CTA)

Orange Line
An Orange Line train of 3200-series cars.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Chicago "L"
Status	Operational
Locale	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Termini	Midway The Loop
Stations	16
Daily ridership	63,037 (avg. weekday September 2012)
Operation
Opened	October 31, 1993
Operator(s)	Chicago Transit Authority
Character	Elevated and Surface Level
Rolling stock	2600-series, 3200-series
Technical
Line length	12.5 mi (20.1 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Minimum radius	90 feet (27 m)
Electrification	Third rail, 600 V DC
Route map Clark | State Randolph/Wells Randolph/Wabash Washington | Washington Madison | Madison Adams/Wabash Quincy LaSalle | Library Roosevelt RI to LaSalle Street HC SWS to Union Station Green Line to Ashland/63rd and Cottage Grove Red Line to 95th/Dan Ryan RI to Joliet SWS to Manhattan Halsted Chicago River (south branch) Ashland 35th/Archer HC to Joliet Western Kedzie Pulaski Midway

The Orange Line is a rapid transit line in Chicago, Illinois run by the Chicago Transit Authority as part of the "L" system. It is approx. 12.5 miles (20.1 km) long and runs at grade and serves the Southwest Side, running from the Loop to Midway International Airport. In September 2012, the average weekday boardings on the Orange Line were 63,037.

Route

Northward view from the Adams/Wabash station at night

Brown line and Orange line trains contend for the intersection at the southeast corner of the Chicago Loop. Photograph taken from the crossover walkway of the Adams/Wabash stop on the Green, Orange, Brown and Purple lines.

Chicago Transit Authority interlocking tower 18 guides elevated Chicago 'L' north and southbound Purple and Brown lines intersecting with east and westbound Pink and Green lines and the looping Orange line above the Wells and Lake street intersection in the loop.

The Orange Line begins in an open cut at a station on the east side of Midway International Airport. From here, the line rises to an elevated viaduct at 55th Street and continues northeast towards the city on railroad right-of-way. At Lawndale Avenue the line turns east along Conrail right-of-way at 49th Street to a point east of Western Boulevard, then curves north and northwest on embankment structure along CSX and Conrail right-of-way to Western Boulevard and Pershing Road.

From here, the line rises on elevated structure again and makes a curve to cross Archer Avenue, the Conrail tracks and Western Boulevard before descending onto Illinois Central (ex-Gulf, Mobile and Ohio) Railroad right-of-way immediately east of Western Boulevard. Entering the IC right-of-way, the line again changes from elevated structure to surface level. The line continues on surface level to Ashland Avenue where it crosses the bridge of the South Branch of the Chicago River. At this point, the line enters the joint Illinois Central and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way continuing on embankment to Canal Street.

There the line again transitions to the elevated structure to bridge Canal Street, Cermak Road and the Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad tracks then curves east to run along the south side of 18th Street, crossing over the Red Line and the Rock Island District tracks near Wentworth Avenue, before joining the South Side Elevated at a flying junction between 16th and 17th Streets. The ballasted track ends and the timber deck begins here. Orange Line trains share the tracks with the Green Line operating from this junction to Tower 12 at the southeast corner of the Loop. Orange Line trains operate clockwise around the inner loop - via Van Buren Street, Wells Street, Lake Street and Wabash Avenue - before returning to Midway.

Along the Orange Line's main route there are seven stations. An eighth station is located at Roosevelt/Wabash on the old South Side 'L' which Orange Line trains share with Green Line trains. A passenger tunnel connects this station with the Roosevelt/State subway station on the Red Line.

A downtown superstation has been proposed to provide express service from the Loop to O'Hare and Midway, via the Orange and Blue Lines. The station would provide services such as baggage check. The downtown terminal is under construction, but the express tracks required for the Airport Express trains have yet to be funded.

Operating hours and headways

The Orange Line operates between Midway and the Loop weekdays from 3:30 a.m. to 1:25 a.m., Saturdays from 4 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. and Sundays from 4:30 a.m. to 1:25 a.m. On weekdays, headways consists of six to eleven minutes during rush hour, eight minutes during midday and seven to twelve minutes at night. Saturday service runs every seven to twelve minutes during the day, then 15-20 minutes late night. Sunday service runs every twelve minutes during the day, then every 15-20 minutes at night.

During morning rush hour, several Orange Line trains bound for the Loop continue toward the Brown Line after stopping at Adams/Wabash station; whereas several Brown Line trains bound for Midway continue as the Orange Line after stopping at Harold Washington Library station.^[1]

Rolling stock

The Orange Line is operated with the 2600-series and 3200-series railcars which were delivered a year before the opening of the route. From November 8, 2012 to October 31, 2014, some 2400-series railcars were assigned to the line. Trains operate using eight cars during weekday rush hours and four cars during other times on weekdays and all day on weekends except for special events when eight cars may be required. A non-rush hour four car Orange Line train consists of two 2600-series cars and two 3200-series cars or four 2600-series cars or four 3200-series cars. The Orange Line's 2600-series cars are to remain in service on the line until the early 2020s, where they will be replaced by the new 7000-series cars. The Orange Line's 3200-series cars are to remain in service on the line until at least the late 2020s, where they will be replaced by the new 7000-series cars if all options are picked up, otherwise the 3200-series cars will remain in service on the line until the 2030s if the options are not picked up. Meanwhile, CTA is currently in the process of overhauling the 3200-series cars with color LED destination signs (similar to the 5000-series cars), new air conditioning systems, and rebuilt propulsion systems, passenger door motors, and wheel/axle assemblies. The 3200-series rehabilitation began in 2015 and will be completed in 2018. Later in 2018, some of the Orange Line's 3200-series cars will be transferred to the Blue Line, while some of the Blue Line's 2600-series cars will be transferred to the Orange Line, and the Orange Line's 2600-series cars being transferred to the Brown Line.

Beginning in June 2014, CTA began to transfer some 2600-series cars to the line as an interim replacement for its 2400-series cars. The first batch of the Orange Line's 2600-series cars are reassignments from the Blue Line, where the lost capacity on the Blue Line is made up from reassignment of 2600-series cars from the Red Line, which are newer than the existing Blue Line cars, as they are displaced by the new Bombardier-built 5000-series cars on the Red Line. The second batch of 2600-series cars are reassignments from the Red Line as more 5000-series cars are delivered and assigned to the Red Line, replacing the Orange Line's remaining 2400-series cars until the Red Line is fully equipped with the 5000-series cars. The last 2400-series cars were retired from service on October 31, 2014. After the Red Line is fully equipped with the 5000-series cars, The CTA planned on replacing the Orange Line's 2600-series cars with 5000-series cars, leaving only the Blue and Brown Lines as the only lines not to operate 5000-series cars. However, the assignment of 5000-series cars to the Orange Line is now unlikely, since delivery of all 5000-series cars is complete and are completely assigned to all other lines except for the Blue and Brown Lines, thus the assignment of 2600-series cars to the Orange Line is now a permanent assignment until the delivery of the new 7000-series cars.

History

The Orange Line's terminal at Midway International Airport

The Orange Line opened for service on October 31, 1993, and was the first all-new service in Chicago since the Dan Ryan Line opened in September 1969 and the first extension to the CTA system since the O'Hare Airport Extension of the Blue Line in September 1984. But its planning dates back to the late 1930s when the City of Chicago proposed a high speed subway extension along Wells-Archer-Cicero between the Loop and 63rd Street and Cicero Avenue near Chicago Midway International Airport (then called Chicago's Municipal Airport). It would be another four decades before Chicago transit planners became serious about providing rapid transit service to this area of the city.

In 1979, the City began the Southwest Transit Project, which proposed extending the CTA 'L' system to the Southwest Side of Chicago over existing railroad rights-of-way and newer elevated connections along the very busy Archer-49th-Cicero Corridor from the Loop to its originally planned terminus at Ford City Shopping Center. Funding for the project was made possible from Interstate Highway Transfer monies saved after the city decided to cancel the high priced and controversial Crosstown Expressway and Franklin Street Subway projects. Federal funding for the project was secured by U.S. Representative William Lipinski as a favor from then-President Ronald Reagan, who wanted to thank Lipinski for his vote to provide aid to the Nicaraguan contras.^[2]

In 1987, construction of the $510 million transit line began and continued until fall 1993. When the Midway Line opened, the CTA decided to adopt a color-coded naming system for the rapid transit network (like Boston, Washington D.C. and Cleveland) and named it the Orange Line.

Former proposed extension

Destination sign on CTA trains have a line on the blind bearing the following text: Ford City.^[3] The Ford City Mall is about two miles (3 km) south of Midway Airport, and it was originally planned to be the line's terminal. However, because of financial shortfalls, the city decided to end the line at Midway Airport.

The CTA undertook an Alternatives Analysis for the Orange Line extension to Ford City and determined that the project currently stands at an estimated $200 million. Community meetings were held in neighborhoods surrounding Midway and Ford City to judge the level of public support for the extension.^[4]

In the August 2008 Screen 1 of the Alternatives Analysis, the four corridors being studied for the Orange Line extension include alignments along Cicero Avenue, Pulaski Road, and a combination of the Belt Railway and either Cicero or Kostner Avenues. The corridors selected for further study are Cicero Ave (Bus Rapid Transit) and Belt/Cicero or Belt/Kostner (Heavy Rail Transit).^[5] For Screen 2 in April 2009, the Cicero Avenue/Belt Railway corridor was chosen as the most viable option and advanced in the Alternatives Analysis process.^[6] By December 2009, the CTA had identified the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) as the Belt/Cicero route. According to a CTA report,

The LPA would operate in a trench along the BRC right-of-way between the existing Midway station and approximately 6400 South, where it would begin to transition to an elevated structure above Marquette Road, where it would curve to the southwest over the BRC Clearing Yard and then continue south on elevated structure in the median of Cicero Avenue. The Orange Line extension would end at a new terminal station in the vicinity of Ford City Mall."^[7]

The CTA planned to prepare a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and complete preliminary engineering. However, the extension was cancelled.^[8]

Station listing

Chicago Transit Authority Chicago 'L' route map

Station	Location	Municipality	Points of interest and notes
Midway	4612 W. 59th Street	Chicago	Connections: CTA buses: 47 47th, 54B South Cicero, 55 Garfield, 55A 55th/Austin, 55N 55th/Narragansett, 59 59th/61st, 62H Archer/Harlem, N62 Archer, 63 63rd, 63W West 63rd, and 165 West 65th Pace buses: 379 Midway/Orland Square, 382 Central/Clearing, 383 South Cicero, 384 Narragansett/Ridgeland, 385 87th/111th/127th, 386 South Harlem, 387 Toyota Park Direct, and 390 Midway CTA Station/UPS Hodgkins River Valley Metro buses: Midway Commuter Midway International Airport
Pulaski	5106 S. Pulaski Road		Points of interest: Curie Metropolitan High School and The Polish Highlanders Alliance of North America Connections: CTA buses: 53A South Pulaski and 62 Archer
Kedzie	4900 S. Kedzie Avenue		Points of interest: Marquette Park, Hayes Park, Nabisco Factory, Tarkington Park, and Ashburn Area Connections: CTA buses: 47 47th, 51 51st, 52 Kedzie/California, and 52A South Kedzie
Western	4900 S. Western Avenue		Points of interest: St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, Sherman Park, and Gage Park Connections: CTA buses: 48 South Damen, 49 Western, X49 Western Express, and 94 South California
35th/Archer	3528 S. Leavitt Street		Points of interest: McKinley Park, St. Peter and Paul Church, and St. Maurice Church Connections: CTA buses: 35 31st/35th, 39 Pershing, 50 Damen, and 62 Archer
Ashland	3000 S. Ashland Avenue		Points of interest: Bubbly Creek and St. Mary of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church Connections: CTA buses: 9 Ashland, X9 Ashland Express, 31 31st, and 62 Archer
Halsted	2520 S. Archer Avenue		Points of interest: Bridgeport, St. Barbara Church, and All Saints-St. Anthony Church Connections: CTA buses: 8 Halsted, 44 Wallace/Racine, and 62 Archer
Roosevelt	22 E. Roosevelt Road		Points of interest: Field Museum of Natural History, Soldier Field, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium Connections: CTA "L" trains: Green Line and Red Line Metra trains: Metra Electric District (at Museum Campus/11th Street) South Shore Line (at Museum Campus/11th Street) CTA buses: 12 Roosevelt, 18 16th/18th, 29 State, 62 Archer, 130 Museum Campus, 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express, and 192 University of Chicago Hospitals Express
Harold Washington Library – State/Van Buren	1 W. Van Buren Street		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: Harold Washington Library Center, DePaul University, Robert Morris University, John Marshall Law School, Chicago Bar Association, The Auditorium Building of Roosevelt University, Monadnock Building, and Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago Connections: CTA "L" trains: Orange, Brown, and Pink Lines and Red Line (at Jackson/State) and Blue Line (at Jackson/Dearborn) CTA buses: 2 Hyde Park Express, 6 Jackson Park Express, 10 Museum of Science and Industry, 22 Clark, 24 Wentworth, 29 State, 36 Broadway, 62 Archer, 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express, and 147 Outer Drive Express
LaSalle/Van Buren	121 W. Van Buren Street		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Board Options Exchange Connections: Metra trains: Rock Island District (at LaSalle Street Station) CTA buses: 22 Clark, 24 Wentworth, 36 Broadway, 130 Museum Campus, and 132 Goose Island Express
Quincy	220 S. Wells Street		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: Sears Tower and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Connections: Metra trains: BNSF Railway Line, Heritage Corridor, Milwaukee District/North Line, Milwaukee District/West Line, North Central Service, and SouthWest Service (at Union Station) Amtrak trains: California Zephyr, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service, Illini and Saluki, Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, Capitol Limited, Cardinal, Hoosier State, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle, Lake Shore Limited, Pere Marquette, Wolverine, Blue Water, and Lincoln Service (at Union Station) CTA buses: 1 Bronzeville/Union Station, 7 Harrison, 28 Stony Island, 37 Sedgwick, 126 Jackson, 130 Museum Campus, 151 Sheridan, and 156 LaSalle
Madison/Wells	1 N. Wells Street		Closed January 30, 1994; demolished and replaced by Washington/Wells
Washington/Wells	100 N. Wells Street		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: Chicago City Hall, Civic Opera House, and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Connections: CTA "L" trains: Purple, Brown, and Pink Lines Metra trains: Union Pacific/North Line, Union Pacific/Northwest Line, and Union Pacific/West Line (at Ogilvie Transportation Center) CTA buses: J14 Jeffery Jump, 20 Madison, 37 Sedgwick, 56 Milwaukee, 60 Blue Island/26th, 124 Navy Pier, and 157 Streeterville/Taylor
Randolph/Wells	150 N. Wells St.		Closed July 17, 1995; partially demolished and replaced by Washington/Wells
Clark/Lake	100 W. Lake Street		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: James R. Thompson Center and Richard J. Daley Center Connections: CTA "L" trains: Purple, Green, Blue, Brown, and Pink Lines CTA buses: 22 Clark, 24 Wentworth, 134 Stockton/LaSalle Express, 135 Clarendon/LaSalle Express, 136 Sheridan/LaSalle Express, and 156 LaSalle
State/Lake	200 N. State Street		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: Chicago Theatre, Gene Siskel Film Center, Harold Washington College Connections: CTA "L" trains: Red Line (at Lake) CTA buses: 2 Hyde Park Express, 6 Jackson Park Express, 10 Museum of Science and Industry, 29 State, 36 Broadway, 62 Archer, and 146 Inner Drive/Michigan Express
Randolph/Wabash	151 N. Wabash Avenue		Closed September 3, 2017; demolished and replaced by Washington/Wabash
Washington/Wabash	29 N. Wabash Avenue		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: Marshall Field's State Street store (now Macy's), Chicago Cultural Center, and Millennium Park Connections: Metra trains: Metra Electric District (at Millennium Station) South Shore Line (at Millennium Station) CTA buses: J14 Jeffrey Jump, 20 Madison, 56 Milwaukee, 60 Blue Island/26th, 124 Navy Pier, 147 Outer Drive Express, 151 Sheridan, 157 Streeterville/Taylor
Madison/Wabash	2 N. Wabash Avenue		Closed March 16, 2015; demolished and replaced by Washington/Wabash
Adams/Wabash	201 S. Wabash Avenue		Inner Loop platform Points of interest: Grant Park, Petrillo Music Shell, Buckingham Fountain, Art Institute of Chicago, Orchestra Hall, and DePaul University Connections: CTA "L" trains: Purple, Green, Brown, and Pink Lines CTA buses: 1 Bronzeville/Union Station, 7 Harrison, 28 Stony Island, 126 Jackson, and 151 Sheridan

After stopping at Adams/Wabash, Orange Line trains return to Roosevelt, then make all stops back to Midway.

References

External links

Route map:

• Orange Line at CTA official site
• Orange Line extension plan