California Station (CTA Pink Line)
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California Station (CTA Pink Line)
California is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, serving the Pink Line and the Little Village neighborhood. The station opened on March 10, 1902, as part of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad's Douglas Park branch. It is the closest station to Cook County Jail. Structure The station consists of a single elevated island platform with two entrances: a primary accessible full-service entrance with ticket vending machines on the east side of California Avenue, and a secondary farecard-only non-accessible entrance on the west side of California Avenue. Immediately to the west of the station, the tracks ramp up to cross over the BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ... and associated Metra line. Bus connections CTA * 94 Cali ...
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Cermak Branch
The Cermak branch, formerly known as the Douglas branch, is a long section of the Pink Line of the Chicago "L" system in Chicago, Illinois. It was built by the Metropolitan West Side Elevated west of the Loop. As of February 2013, it serves an average of 17,474 passengers every weekday. The branch serves the Near West Side, Pilsen, Lower West Side, South Lawndale, and North Lawndale neighborhoods of Chicago, and the west suburb Cicero, Illinois. The branch operates from 4:05 a.m. to 1:25 a.m., weekdays, and Saturdays from 5:05 a.m. to 1:25 a.m., and Sundays from 5:00 a.m. to 1:25 a.m., including holidays. History Initially known as the Douglas Park branch, construction began in June 1893 and the line was inaugurated on April 28, 1896, between Marshfield Avenue and . The branch started off with four stations and was the shortest of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated. Construction time was longer than in other sections. On August 7, 1896, the ...
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Island Platform
An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are sometimes used between the opposite-direction tracks on twin-track route stations as they are cheaper and occupy less area than other arrangements. They are also useful within larger stations, where local and express services for the same direction of travel can be accessed from opposite sides of the same platform instead of side platforms on either side of the tracks, simplifying and speeding transfers between the two tracks. The historical use of island platforms depends greatly upon the location. In the United Kingdom the use of island platforms on twin-track routes is relatively common when the railway line is in a cutting or raised on an embankment, as this makes it easier to provide access to the platf ...
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Chicago Transit Authority
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of public transport, mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and List of Chicago Transit Authority bus routes, CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . The CTA is an Illinois Government agency, independent governmental agency that started operations on October 1, 1947, upon the purchase and combination of the transportation assets of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines streetcar system. In 1952, CTA purchased the assets of the Chicago Motor Coach Company, which was under the control of Yellow Cab Company founder John D. Hertz, resulting in a fully unified system. Today, the CTA is one of the three service boards financially supported by the Regional Transportation Authority (Illinois), Regional Transportation Authority and CTA service connects with the commuter rail Metra, and suburba ...
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The Loop (CTA)
The Loop (historically Union Loop) is the circuit of elevated rail that forms the hub of the Chicago "L" system in the United States. As of April 2024, the branch served 40,341 passengers on an average weekday. The Loop is so named because the elevated tracks loop around a rectangle formed by Lake Street (north side), Wabash Avenue (east), Van Buren Street (south), and Wells Street (west). The railway loop has given its name to Chicago's downtown, which is also known as Chicago Loop, the Loop. Transit began to appear in Chicago in the latter half of the 19th century as the city grew rapidly, and rapid transit started to be built in the late 1880s. When the first rapid transit lines opened in the 1890s, they were independently owned and each had terminals that were located immediately outside of Chicago's downtown, where it was considered too expensive and politically inexpedient to build rapid transit. Charles Tyson Yerkes aggregated the competing rapid transit lines and built a ...
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Metro Station
A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the case of an emergency. In the United Kingdom, they are known as underground stations, most commonly used in reference to the London Underground. Location The location of metro stations are carefully planned to provide easy access to important urban facilities such as roads, commercial centers, major buildings and other transport nodes important areas. Most stations are located underground, with entrances and exits leading up to ground or street level. The bulk of the station is typically positioned under land reserved for public thoroughfares or parks. Placing the station underground reduces the outside area occupied by the station, allowing vehicles and pedestrians to continue using the ground-level area in a similar way as be ...
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Chicago 'L'
Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but Chicago's population continued to grow. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and architecture, such as the Chicago School, the development of the City Beautiful movement, and the steel-framed skyscraper. Chicago is ...
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Pink Line (CTA)
The Pink Line is an rapid transit line in Chicago, run by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) as part of the Chicago "L" system. It is the CTA's newest rail line and began operation for a 180-day trial period on June 25, 2006, running between 54th/Cermak station in Cicero, Illinois and the Loop in downtown Chicago. As the line enters downtown Chicago, it begins to share tracks with Green Line trains on Lake Street. This connection is handled by the previously non-revenue Paulina Connector set of tracks. In 2023, over 3 million passengers boarded Pink Line trains. Operation The Pink Line, which was once the Blue Line's Cermak branch, begins at 54th Avenue and Cermak Road in Cicero (5400 W. – 2200 S.). The line runs on at-grade tracks parallel to Cermak Road from the terminal to about a quarter-mile (400 m) east of Cicero Avenue, then runs diagonally northeast until it reaches a corridor parallel and adjacent to 21st Street at Kostner Avenue. It then continues east between ...
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Little Village, Chicago
South Lawndale is a community area on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. Over 80% of the residents are of Mexican descent and the community is home to the largest foreign-born Mexican population in Chicago. The community is home to two distinct neighborhoods, Little Village and Marshall Square. Neighborhoods Little Village Little Village, often referred to as the "Mexico of the Midwest," is a dense community in the western and central areas of South Lawndale, with a major commercial district along 26th Street. The area was originally settled by Eastern European and Czech immigrants mainly from Bohemia in the late 19th century, after the Great Chicago Fire sent the population of Chicago rippling out from the city's center to the outlying countryside. Jobs created by industrial development in the early 20th century also attracted residents to the area. Little Village saw a marked increase in Polish immigrants in the mid-20th century. The Mexican population of the Ne ...
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Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad
The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad (known as the ''Met'' or ''Polly "L"'') was the third elevated rapid transit line to be built in Chicago, Illinois. It was the first of Chicago 'L', Chicago’s elevated lines to be electrically powered. The Metropolitan Main Line (CTA), main line ran from downtown Chicago to Marshfield Avenue, with branches to Logan Square branch, Logan Square, Humboldt Park branch (CTA), Humboldt Park, Garfield Park branch (CTA), Garfield Park, and Douglas Branch, Douglas Park (eventually extended to the suburb of Berwyn, Illinois). Portions of the system are still operated as sections of the Blue Line (Chicago Transit Authority), Blue Line and the Pink Line (Chicago Transit Authority), Pink Line. Operation At 6:00 am on May 7, 1895, the first train of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated left the Damen (CTA Blue Line), Robey Street station bound for the downtown terminal at Canal. Consolidation In 1913, Chicago's four elevated railroad companies ca ...
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Cook County Jail
The Cook County Jail, located on in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, is operated by the Sheriff of Cook County. It is sometimes referred to as ''California'' or ''Hotel California'', as its address is on California Avenue. A city jail has existed on this site since after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, but major County prisoners were not generally collocated here until closure of the old Hubbard Street Criminal Court Building and jail in 1929. Since then, a 1920s neoclassical and art deco courthouse for the criminal division of the Cook County Circuit Court has operated at the South Lawndale complex. As of 2017, Cook County operated the third-largest jail system in the United States by inmate population (after the Los Angeles County and New York City jail systems). The jail has held several well-known and infamous criminals, including Al Capone, Tony Accardo, Frank Nitti, Larry Hoover, Jordan Tate, Jeff Fort, Richard Speck, John Wayne Gacy and the Chicago Seven. Ear ...
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BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over in 2010, more than any other North American railroad. The BNSF Railway Company is the principal operating subsidiary of parent company Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad's parent company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska. The current CEO is Kathryn Farmer. According to corporate press releases, BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It also hauls bulk cargo, including coal. The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company on September 22, 1995. This new holding compa ...
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BNSF Railway (Metra)
The BNSF Line is a Metra commuter rail line operated by the BNSF Railway in Chicago and its western suburbs, running from Chicago Union Station to Aurora, Illinois through the Chicago Subdivision. In 2010, the BNSF Line continued to have the highest weekday ridership (average 64,600) of the 11 Metra lines. While Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, the BNSF line's color on Metra timetables is "Cascade Green," in honor of the Burlington Northern Railroad. As of April 29, 2024, the public timetable shows 91 trains (44 inbound, 47 outbound) on the BNSF Line on weekdays. Of these, 32 inbound trains originate from , one from , nine from , and two from . Five outbound trains terminate at Brookfield, eight at Fairview Avenue, three at , and the rest at Aurora. Weekend and holiday service consists of 36 trains (18 in each direction), with trains making all stops from Union Station to Aurora, save for a morning and afternoon inbound express train and an afternoon outbo ...
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