The Most Famous Elevated Metro System | Chicago L

A huge shoutout to Austin Busch, Bryan Ceja, Mika Anderson, and Steven Lucy for providing footage and helping with this video!

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Hi, my name's Reece. I'm a passionate Creator, Transportation Planner, and Software Developer, interested in rapid transportation all around my home base of Toronto, Canada, as well as the whole world!

[alanthefisher]

Chicago is easily one of my favorite systems in North America, it's so unique and it has a ton of charm.
Also the state street tunnel lonnnggg platform is incredibly funny to see in person.

[janoswimpffen]

My favorite difference betweeen the two major US systems: People in New York always "take the subway" even when it's elevated. In Chicago, people always take the "L", even when it's a subway.

[Bobrogers]

Some cities tore down their elevated tracks, considering them to be ugly, noisy and light-blocking, but they didn't always replace them with efficient alternatives. Chicago was smart to keep them and develop them further.

[fernbedek]

Chicago is the US’s Nagoya. 3rd biggest city. In the middle of the country. And so often forgotten.

[davidberlant]

The Chicago 'L' has another unique feature not mentioned: the availability of outside heat lamps at all outdoor L stations. Heat is available from November to March. A very welcome sight during Chicago's harsh winters!

[SynchroSk]

I grew up in Chicago and didn’t realize how spoiled I was. Even when my folks opened a business out in Arlington Heights, I was still able to connect thanks to the Metra. I moved out to Phoenix over twenty years ago now and it was absolutely a shock to my system. I remained working in public service for most of my career, but the last five years I began working for the regional transit authority. I wanted to help grow and improve the system Phoenix does have. Watching a video like this reminds me of the long way we have to go.

[Mr_mimeHK]

The only thing really bothers me about the Chicago 'L', is its radial system layout, meaning that passengers who want to travel from suburb to suburb, they have to go through the center, which not only makes travel time longer, but also increasing the pressure of the lines.

[rilke]

As a person that just moved to Chicago from a city with ZERO public transportation, it is such a blessing to always have an incredibly cheap and reliable way to get almost anywhere in the city at any time.

[bob_._.]

I really like the bare aluminum look of the trains; a classic interpretation that fits well with the modern Midwestern urban environment.

[andykillsu]

Yes finally someone giving the L some deserved love! As you said basically no one talks about the system when it is certainly world class.

[peterjamesfoote]

Probably the best Chicago rail system video by someone not living in Chicago.

A few things of note:

The Metra stations don’t meet at one central station by design. When the US rail system was expanding in the 1800’s store owners in the central loop area like Marshal Fields and hoteliers like Potter Palmer (Palmer House Hotel) decided that a great way to boost business for those traveling across the continental US by rail would more likely spend a day in Chicago spending money if they had to change stations in Chicago! Chicago’s location a one to two day travel from the East coast also made it a great location for a travel break. This worked and Chicago benefited greatly from this decision. Today, Amtrak only uses one of those old stations coming into Union Station underground adjacent to Willis (Sears) Tower across Wacker Drive.

A great tour of upper Chicago can be taken of the Loop by getting on a Brown line train (or Purple Line train in rush hour) and riding in a circle from the Mart Station around in a circle back to the Mart Station. If you do this twice, you can look (and film) this looking both East and West to see very interesting architectural features that don’t stand out at street level.

Because the L system has been there so long many architects built in special features to their buildings at L level because so many would see these features.

The Quincy/Wells stop on the L is a short walk east of Union Station and has been restored to historical beauty. The Brown, Orange, Pink Lines (and Purple in AM and PM rush hour) provide convenient access to the rest of the CTA L system. So rail fans coming into Chicago via Amtrak have easy access to the rest of the system including travel to O’Hare (Blue Line) and Midway Airports (Orange Line).

One of the reasons the L cars don’t connect easily like some systems is that most trains make very sharp turns in the Loop especially, and this makes easy open connections between cars difficult and sometimes unsafe.

Veteran riders do use the doors between cars regularly, but someone with a small child in a stroller, or traveling with a bicycle or in a wheelchair should not use them especially on these sharp turns.

The random digit dial customer satisfaction surveys that began in 1995 (I was the Project Manager for them from 1997-2002) shattered many myths about who CTA’s customers were on both their Rail and Bus system and resulted in many of the modern features that you admired though some (like internet access in the subway) took some substantive work to implement.

Among other things, the survey found that most customers (seeing passengers as customers rather than riders was an important cultural change CTA made during this era which included transforming ticket agents into customer assistants in stations, making all public information available online, prioritizing spending based on what customers were least satisfied with and found most important about CTA service drove many customer focused spending changes including putting cameras on all vehicles (including buses) in all rail stations, creating a larger customer service hotline (1-888-Your-CTA) and the travel information and announcement system you admired both on the platforms and in the stations.

One thing that really surprised Customers as these last were implemented was how on time CTA’s rail system is. (The pandemic was a big financial problem for all US transit systems an the CTA had to reduce service in response though it kept its 24 hour service. It is now doing its best to rebuild back to previous service levels including added security on bus and rail but much depends upon how much work travel returns to the system.

Previously work related trips were the primary trip purpose for CTA customers, so non-work trips (to and from school, to and from shopping, social event travel, sports and tourist travel, and church travel while important cannot replace the work travel lost. However, some major employers in the loop, do require in person attendance including sales work, financial work, banking, and others).

What drives Transit anywhere in the world is population density. This is why Transit in Europe has such high demand and heavy scheduling. Chicago is blessed with a great deal of density however, it’s area is quite large (234.53 sq mi (607.44 km2)) which means that some regions are still underserved by CTA.

The Red Line extension was slowed by economic and political delays but will help to address some of this.

The Circle Line and the O’Hare express service were put on semi-permanent pause but splitting the Pink line off of the Blue line is a positive artifact of those changes and thoughts of an extension out to Navy Pier are not impossible in the future.

While the CTA is not a department of the Chicago City Government, but is an independent state agency under the umbrella of the local Regional Transportation Authority, finding support for extensions of CTA service into the suburbs is often difficult, although a cross city line running North and South along Western Avenue (27.4 miles) or Cicero, have great promise and would stimulate tremendous job growth but even with the economies of Elevated construction, total costs would be prohibitive.

While the Orange Line opening created massive job growth and property value increases in the areas adjacent to the service that is always the perception local residents have when plans are considered when regional decade planning is done.

One opportunity for growth would be to expand the Orange Line out to Ford City (South along Cicero from Midway Airport) or beyond to 87th or even 95th Street. This could ease an enormous amount of congestion along Cicero and provide incredible links to jobs in the city center.

The CTA has run some express buses from Midway to a few major suburban employers from Midway Airport just as it adds school trips to its bus schedule, but one difficulty is that suburban density and planning are so car centric that gaining support for these proposals is difficult.

Another difficulty Transit across the nation has is that National Expenditures favor enormous military spending over all other infrastructure spending. Yet starting in the 80’s Reagan’s diversion of many budget priorities from transit and education to his “Star Wars” military spending has made getting any operational spending and subsidies for transit difficult.

Even with the threat of Global Warming, cleaner alternatives like Electric Buses (which CTA is implementing) and more bus service (local and express) are urgently needed.

Chicago, at 600’+ above sea level is not under threat of being flooded out of existence, but if such flooding does impact the nation, it and the Great Lakes Region as a whole may need to be prepared for a massive influx of Sea Level refugees.

This seems absurd on some levels, yet this type of scenario is something urban planners must envision when looking a decade or more ahead.

Thanks for a great video. I’ve been retired for some years now, but I was there during key moments in CTA history (9/12 and The Chicago Flood) and left with a love and appreciation for CTA and it’s role in the region’s economic engine.

[GojiMet]

Chicago would be ripe for a major transit expansion, perhaps turning the METRA (or at least the electric division) into an S-Banh style system. A big issue though, is that all the commuter lines end in 4 different terminals, and through running Philly-style would be hard to pull off. The transfers to the existing L are also hard to come by. METRA would also have to electrify all the other lines and maybe have to change over to single-deckers, but this would greatly expand service into areas that don't see a lot of it, especially the South Side.

[Astromontana]

As a native Chicagoan (don't live there anymore) who grew up using the L a lot (mostly the Green Line), I do like the ideas for expansion you propose, but there are some problems. The Brown Line connecting to the Blue line part would be extremely difficult to do considering it would have to be mostly underground due to how densely packed a lot of neighborhoods around Kimball/Homan are and the fact that the Blue line is right in the center of a major highway at that point you marked. For the Brown line expansion in the loop, I rather have an underground system that goes under Illinois Ave and stops at Navy Pier since there's no direct rail service to it and it Navy Pier, along with a lot of stores and places along and around Illinois Ave, are famous tourist destinations and lots of places for local nightlife people. As for the Circle Line you propose, I would like to see a complete loop with rail service under Lake Shore Drive, giving rail stops for Solider Field, 31st, North Ave, and Montrose Ave (for the beaches) and Lincoln Park Zoo. It can also have a stop at Navy Pier, connecting with the Brown Line for another rail option.

[weenisw]

Minor correction: The loop was called the loop prior to the present loop tracks being built. Originally it referred to three cable car loops in the same area. These were built after the success San Francisco had had. Sadly none of this was preserved like in SF. There’s a book about Chicago Cable Cars by author Greg Borzo

[murdelabop]

Something else that would be good for the Chicago area would be high speed rail between Chicago and Milwaukee, among other cities.

[madcrowmaxwell]

There's a certain historic charm to a lot of the vintage stations and it would be a shame to lose that. Accessibility work for old stations that doesn't affect the visual appearance too much would seem to be preferable to complete rebuilds in a contemporary style, I would think.

[ZontarDow]

Chicago L shows how long a great system can last though bad times given the past 60 years of what the city has gone through. A good system will survive bad economies and politics.

[portugueseeagle]

Fun fact: The 2400 series train from the Chicago L was built in Portugal by SOREFAME, of all things. They entered service in 1978 and were retired just in 2014!

[ohioweatherguy]

As a former Chicagoan (who hopes to move back eventually), it's nice to see some coverage of the CTA/L. I lived car-free and relied exclusively on the L and buses to get around. I would normally take an express bus down Lake Shore Drive from Uptown in the early mornings to get to my office in the West Loop, while in the afternoon I'd hop on the red line to head back north to my condo. It's was actually a very consistently reliable setup for my commuting needs. And if by chance there was an issue with the L or buses, I had backup options for getting to/from home and work. The redundancy between the L & the grid-based buses makes living car-free much easier.

Nice video! One note, it looks like you have the wrong direction for the orange line traveling around the loop. It travels clockwise rather than counter-clockwise. Only the brown line runs counter-clockwise around the loop (and the green line partially when it's heading towards Harlem in Oak Park).

Interesting you noted the Sears Tower and referred to it as formerly known as the Willis Tower when it's actually the opposite. But Chicagoans (and many others) still refer to it as the Sears Tower so I'm sure there are plenty of people appreciative of your reversal in names. :)

[mikeblatzheim]

What a time for the upload, I'm currently on holiday in Chicago! The system is very convenient to use and the fare system great value for money, but my goodness does the infrastructure need an overhaul. The track in parts is absolutely shocking (especially when coming in from O'Hare), the noise with some vehicles unbelievable, and travel times in some areas much longer than they ought to be. The station distances outside the city centre are also longer than they should be. But I do love the vintage elevated viaducts