Belmont is an 'L' station serving the CTA's

North Side Main Line The North Side Main Line is a branch of the Chicago "L" system that is used by Red, Purple, and Brown Line trains. As of 2012, it is the network's busiest rail branch, serving an average of 123,229 passengers each weekday. The branch is long wi ...

. It is served at all times by the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

and

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

Lines, and by the

Purple Line Express The Purple Line of the Chicago "L" is a route on the northernmost section of the system. The service normally begins from in Wilmette and ends at on Chicago's north border, passing through the city of Evanston. During weekday rush hours, th ...

during weekday rush hours. It is located at 945 West

Belmont Avenue Belmont Avenue (3200 N) is a major east–west street in Chicago and several of its suburbs. It begins in the east near Belmont Harbor and is a key commercial street in Lakeview. West of the North Branch of the Chicago River, it passes throug ...

in the Lakeview neighborhood of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 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 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It is an elevated station with two

island platforms An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single railway platform, platform is positioned between two railway track, tracks within a railway station, ...

serving four tracks; Brown and Purple Line trains share the outer tracks while Red Line trains run on the inner tracks. Along with residential areas, the neighborhood surrounding Belmont contains many eclectic shops, bars, and restaurants and active nightlife. The station is one of the more heavily utilized on the system serving as a busy transfer point, and also as a terminal when the Brown Line operates as a shuttle service to and from late at night and early in the morning. It is nearly identical to Fullerton, minus the terminal status.

Location

Belmont is situated on West Belmont Avenue, close to its intersection with North Sheffield Avenue. The station is located in the Lakeview community area of Chicago; the area surrounding the station consists of a mixture of business and residential areas. The Vic Theater is less than half a block west on Sheffield Avenue.

History

Belmont station was constructed between 1896 and 1900 as part of the

Northwestern Elevated Railroad The Northwestern Elevated Railroad was the last of the privately constructed rapid transit lines to be built in Chicago. The line ran from the Loop in downtown Chicago north to Wilson Avenue in Chicago's Uptown, Chicago, Uptown neighborhood with a ...

, opening on May 31, 1900. The station had two island platforms elevated on a steel structure with tracks on either side. Following construction of the Ravenswood branch in 1907 (now part of today's Brown Line), a bridge was constructed connecting the two platforms to allow transfers from southbound services to northbound trains on the branch. The station house was located on the south side of Belmont and contained several

turnstile A turnstile (also called a gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of people, one-way ...

s as well as a customer assistant booth. Beyond the turnstiles was a small caged area leading to stairs; the west staircase led to the southbound platform and the east staircase to the northbound platform. Prior to 1963 there was also a side platform on the west side of Track 1 (the westernmost track), which was used exclusively by the southbound trains of the

Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad (reporting mark CNSM), also known as the North Shore Line, was an interurban railroad that operated passenger train, passenger and freight train, freight service over an route between the Chicag ...

During 2006–2009, Belmont station underwent reconstruction as part of the Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project. The original station house was renovated and relocated to the north side of Belmont Avenue, the rest of the structure was demolished and a new station house and new wider platforms and canopies constructed. Elevators were installed to make the station accessible to those with disabilities. Because of its importance, the station remained open throughout the entire project unlike other stations which were temporarily closed for periods lasting from a few weekends to several months. During reconstruction the station was accessed from a temporary structure to the east of the original entry. The staging area and job offices for the project are located just north of the Belmont station. Construction of support systems for the project and demolition of adjacent structures started in 2006, although this was not without controversy. Several businesses in the area were forcefully evicted so their property could be used for construction, leading to some ill-will towards the CTA amongst area residents. Part of the staging for the reconstruction of the Belmont station required the temporary use of three tracks instead of the usual four. The Three-track operation concluded at Belmont on the morning of December 20, 2008. The project's Full Funding Grant Agreement with the federal government require that the CTA complete the project by the end of 2009. Elevators were placed into service on December 29, 2009 for customers with disabilities.

Train services

Belmont is part of the CTA's Red, Brown and Purple Lines. Red Line trains serve Belmont 24/7. Brown Line trains serve Belmont between 4:00 a.m. and 2:20 a.m. Monday–Saturday, and between 5:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on Sundays. Purple Line Express trains serve Belmont between 5:20 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. during the weekday morning rush hour, and between 2:30 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. during the weekday evening rush hour. Trains operate roughly every 3 to 10 minutes during rush hour, with longer headways of up to 15 minutes at night. 1,481,708 passengers boarded trains at Belmont in 2021.

Bus connections

CTA *22 Clark (Owl Service) *77 Belmont (Owl Service) The 77 Belmont stops at the station, and the 22 Clark stops close to the station on Clark Street.

References

External links

Belmont station page
at the CTA website

at Chicago-'L'.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Belmont (Cta North Side Main Line) CTA Brown Line stations CTA Purple Line stations CTA Red Line stations Chicago "L" terminal stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1900 Former North Shore Line stations