Midway Yard | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.JPG) Aerial view of the yard from the south, from an arriving plane at Midway Airport | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | 5601 S. Kilpatrick Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60629 | ||||
| Coordinates | 41°47′23″N87°44′19″W / 41.7898°N 87.7387°W /41.7898; -87.7387 | ||||
| System | Chicago "L"rapid transit yard | ||||
| Owned by | Chicago Transit Authority | ||||
| Line | Midway Branch | ||||
| Construction | |||||
| Structure type | At-grade | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 1993; 32 years ago (1993) | ||||
| |||||
TheMidway Yard is arail yard on the Southwest side ofChicago, Illinois which stores cars for theOrange Line of theChicago Transit Authority. It is adjacent toMidway station, the southwestern terminus of the Orange Line.[1]
In addition to Orange Line operations, Midway Yard operates a small number of rush-hourBrown Line trips. Midway Yard was constructed as part of the Orange Line project, and opened in 1993.[2]
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Midway Yard is located in theGarfield Ridge community area ofChicago, immediately east ofMidway International Airport. The Orange Line's southwestern terminus,Midway Airport station, is located south of the yard. Midway Yard and the adjacent Midway Airport station are laid out to allow a southward extension of the Orange Line toFord City Mall. Planning work on the extension began in 2006 and continued until 2010, but the extension was never built.[3][4]
The Midway Yard was constructed as part of the Orange Line project, which was originally known as the "Southwest Route." Proposals for an "L" line to Midway Airport, formerly the Chicago Municipal Airport, were made as early as 50 years before its opening in 1993.[5]
The present-day route was proposed in the early 1980s, and was partially funded by federal funds originally allocated for theCrosstown Expressway. A political deal in 1986 between PresidentRonald Reagan and United States RepresentativeBill Lipinski fully funded the line, and Orange Line service began on October 31, 1993.[4][6]
Midway Yard stores and services the fleet of trains for theOrange Line, which runs from Midway Airport toThe Loop. Additionally, trains stored at Midway Yard are used for some weekday peak hour services on theBrown Line, which operates from the space-constrainedKimball Yard.[7] As of the November 2024 timetable[update], eight Brown Line trips per day originate or terminate at Midway, changing theirdestination signs from Orange to Brown when entering the Loop.[8] This service pattern is nicknamed the "Tiger Line," referencingthe animal's orange-and-brown coat.[9]
At its opening in 1993, Midway Yard stored the Orange Line's fleet of 102 newly-acquired3200-series railcars.[10] The 3200-series were designed forone-person train operation, making the Orange Line the second Chicago "L" line to open with one-person operation, after the Skokie Swift (today'sYellow Line).
The 3200-series cars in Midway Yard's fleet were refurbished in the mid-2010s at theSkokie Shops.[11][12] In 2018, the Orange Line and Blue Line fleets were swapped, with the newly-refurbished 3200-series cars assigned to the Blue Line and the Blue Line's remaining2600-series cars assigned to the Orange Line.[13] The Orange Line's fleet of 2600-series cars will be replaced by the7000-series or the future9000-series cars.
Media related toMidway Yard (Chicago) at Wikimedia Commons