Green Line (CTA)
The Green Line is a rapid transit line in Chicago, Illinois, operated by the Chicago Transit Authority as part of the Chicago "L" system. It is the only completely elevated route in the "L" system. All other routes may have various combinations of elevated, subway, street level, or freeway median sections. This line is also the only route with three terminals: trains departing Harlem/Lake alternate destinations between Ashland/63rd and Cottage Grove.
The Green Line utilizes the system's oldest segments, dating back to 1892. It extends for, with 31 stations between Oak Park/Forest Park and Chicago's West Side, to the Loop, and then to the South Side neighborhoods of West Englewood and Woodlawn.
Route
Lake Street Elevated
Beginning at the yard and inspection facilities in Forest Park, the Green Line runs east through Oak Park towards the city on an embankment adjacent to Metra's Union Pacific West Line tracks from the Harlem Avenue terminal, on the border of Oak Park and Forest Park, to a point just west of Laramie Avenue. Here, the Green Line tracks diverge from the railroad embankment and continue east on a steel elevated structure directly above Lake Street, a major east–west thoroughfare.The "L" bridges a couple of railroad tracks before entering downtown Chicago at Clinton Street. East of Clinton Street, the route bridges Metra's Union Pacific railroad tracks and the Chicago River before joining the Union Loop "L" tracks at Wells Street.
The Loop
In downtown Chicago, the Green Line operates over the famous Union Loop "L" structure along with Brown Line, Orange Line, Pink Line and Purple Line Express trains. Green Line trains operate both ways over the Lake Street and Wabash Avenue sides only, and do not use the Wells Street and Van Buren Street sides of the Loop.The Green Line is the only line in the "L" system that has two entry/exit points to the elevated Loop, the only "L" line that runs in both directions on the Loop, and the only route that uses the Loop but does not terminate there. Its route uses the Wabash and Lake sides of the Loop, which are also used by the Orange, Pink, Purple and Brown Lines, which operate around the Loop and then return to their route terminal.
South Side Elevated
Leaving the Loop at Tower 12, the tracks continue along Wabash Avenue and follows an "S" curve to the west and south now following the alley between Wabash Avenue and State Street to 40th Street. This 3.8 mile section is the oldest part of Chicago's "L" system. On this segment, the Green Line shares tracks with the Orange Line between the Loop and 17th Street. Passengers can transfer between the two lines at Roosevelt/Wabash station.The other stations on this section are at and, adjacent to the Illinois Institute of Technology campus and the Chicago Police Department Headquarters. At 40th Street, the route turns east to Indiana station, then turns south between Calumet and Prairie Avenues to the Garfield station and continues south to 59th Street where the route splits into two branches—the Englewood branch and the Jackson Park branch. Prior to 1994 the East 63rd branch extended as far east as Stony Island Avenue. It was shortened to University in 1982 and Cottage Grove in 1996.
Ashland branch
The Ashland branch continues south and west following 59th Street, Princeton Avenue and 63rd Street to the Ashland terminal in West Englewood. The yard and inspection shop lie to the south between the old Racine station and the Ashland/63rd terminal. The "L" tracks continues west to a stub end at Hermitage Avenue, a prediction for a future extension of the route westward, however, those plans were canceled in the late 1970s. Prior to 1992, the Englewood branch had two additional stops at Wentworth and Harvard, closed by the CTA for service cuts. Halsted/63rd is the only remaining stop on the route.The Englewood branch was permanently renamed the Ashland branch as of March 2013 according to the CTA.
East 63rd branch
The East 63rd branch continues south from the mainline between Calumet and Prairie Avenues, passing the old yard and inspection facilities at 61st Street in Washington Park. South of here, the route curves east over 63rd Street and follows it to the current terminal at Cottage Grove/63rd in Woodlawn. Prior to 1994, the Jackson Park branch of the Green Line once terminated at University/63rd and before that, at Stony Island/63rd from 1893 until 1982. In addition to losing the University/63rd station, the Jackson Park branch also lost the 61st Street station and the 58th Street station in 1994.Operating hours and headways
The Green Line operates weekdays from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Between Harlem/Lake and Garfield, trains run on a minimum headway of 12 minutes, decreasing to as few as 10 minutes during weekday rush hours. Headways are doubled on the branches to Ashland/63rd and Cottage Grove.Rolling stock
The Green Line is operated with the Bombardier-built 5000-series railcars. The 5000-series cars officially began running on the Green Line on July 1, 2012, after the Pink Line became fully equipped with the new cars. As additional 5000-series cars were assigned to the Green Line, the remaining 2400-series cars were reassigned to the Red, Purple and Orange Lines to finish their service lives. Occasionally, 2600-series and 3200-series railcars were used on the Green Line, though these were loaned from the Blue, Brown, and Orange Lines, and only when the Green Line was short on cars.With the 5000-series cars now completely equipping the Green Line fleet after the last of the 2400-series cars were reassigned in mid-May 2013, the borrowing of 2600-series cars and 3200-series cars is no longer necessary. The Green Line was the second line to be fully equipped with the 5000-series cars, following the Pink Line. Frequently, the Green and Pink Lines borrow each other's cars when either line is short on cars. Trains operate using six cars full time as of 2020.
History
The Green Line operates over the two oldest sections of the Chicago "L". The South Side section started operation in 1892 when Chicago was preparing for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Jackson Park. The initial section was built to provide inexpensive mass transportation service between downtown Chicago and the exposition site. This first section of the Chicago and South Side Rapid Transit Railroad between Wabash Avenue and State Street went into service on June 6, 1892. It extended from Congress Street only as far south as 39th Street. At that time a large part of the south side was little more than prairie, but by May 1, 1893, when the pioneer "L" line was completed to Jackson Park, construction of homes, apartment buildings and commercial properties was booming in the area.Continued expansion of the area development was reflected in construction of the Englewood, Normal Park, Kenwood and Stock Yards branches of the South Side "L" between 1905 and 1908. Of these, only the Englewood and Jackson Park branches remain: because of insufficient patronage, the Normal Park, Stock Yards and Kenwood branches were closed in the 1950s.
Image:CTA Ashland 050716.jpg|thumb|View from Ashland station along the Lake Street section of the Green Line
File:Chicago L diagram sb.svg|thumb|Chicago Transit Authority Chicago "L" route map
The Lake Street Elevated was Chicago's second rapid transit line. It began operation from a terminal at Madison and Market streets to Lake Street and California Avenue on November 6, 1893. The line was gradually extended westward to Laramie Avenue on April 29, 1894; to Austin Avenue on April 15, 1899; to Wisconsin Avenue, Oak Park using street railway trackage on May 15, 1899, and to Marengo Avenue, Forest Park, on May 14, 1910.
The construction of the Lake Street Elevated led to a political quarrel in west suburban Cicero, which at the time included Oak Park and Austin. In 1898, Austinites, having a majority on Cicero's town council, used political influence to allow the extension of the Lake Street line from the city border at Laramie Avenue into their community. This infuriated other Cicero residents, who retaliated the following year by holding a joint election to force Austin's annexation to the City of Chicago. Much to the dismay of local residents, this effort succeeded, and Austin became part of Chicago in 1899. A century later, Oak Park commuters, who had come to depend on the service, were among the most vocal critics of the Green Line's closure for rehabilitation.
From 1913 until 1993, the Englewood and Jackson Park branches were part of the North–South Route in various service configurations operating from the north side through the Loop and to the south side. On October 17, 1943, the Englewood and Jackson Park services were rerouted into the State Street subway to provide improved crosstown access through the heart of city and to alleviate congestion on the over-crowded Union Loop Elevated. On July 31, 1949, during the north–south rapid transit service revision by the CTA, the Howard–Englewood/Jackson Park route was created, operating via the State Street subway, using the 13th Street portal.
On May 6, 1969, the Englewood branch was extended to the current Ashland Avenue-West Englewood Terminal, replacing the outmoded facilities at the 1907-built Loomis station which were demolished. On December 12, 1982, the Jackson Park branch was shortened to University because of structural deterioration at the Dorchester Bridge which carried the route across the Illinois Central Railroad to the former Stony Island/63rd terminal which closed on March 4, 1982, and was later demolished.
The Lake Street "L" would remain largely unchanged until 1948, when a number of its historic passenger stations were closed and demolished in an attempt to promote the "A" and "B" skip-stop express train service to speed up traffic flow. On October 28, 1962, the western two and one-half mile section of the line which operated at street level was elevated along the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad right-of-way opening new elevated stops at Central, Austin, Ridgeland, Oak Park, and Harlem.
In September 1969, the Lake Street "L" was united with the new Dan Ryan Line to form the West–South Route, operating from Forest Park through downtown via the Union Loop "L" to. The Lake–Dan Ryan routing was to fulfill the service implementation outlined in the 1968 Chicago Central Area Transit Plan. However, when that subway project was canceled in 1979, Lake–Dan Ryan service remained and lasted for 24 years.
In February 1993, the South Side sections of the North–South and West–South Routes were "switched" south of Roosevelt Road, creating the current Red Line and the Green Line. After the reconfiguration, both the Red and Green Lines lost their "A" and "B" skip-stop service and began serving all stations at all times. As stated earlier, the Green Line's routing united the two oldest segments of Chicago's "L"-Subway rail network.
In January 1994, the Green Line closed for the largest transit rehabilitation project in the city's history. The Green Line reopened on May 12, 1996, with much of the renewal work completed and with the exception of a few stations. Six stations were closed permanently following the rehabilitation project, which angered many commuters who depended on the Green Line.
In September 1997, after political pressure brought on by community leaders, the Jackson Park branch was shortened again from University to Cottage Grove after previous attempts by the city, CTA, and other agencies to extend the route eastward to Dorchester, immediately west of the Illinois Central Railroad. This had seemed logical to the Dorchester Terminal, due to the fact that the Metra Electric District and South Shore Line both share a station along the IC ROW, at 63rd Street.
In April 1998, the Green Line, like the Purple Line and the Douglas branch of the Blue Line lost its 24-hour service due to budget cuts, and operates only between the hours of 4 a.m. and 1 a.m weekdays.