commuter rail
Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
station along the
Metra Electric
The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Station), in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs. As of 2018, it is the fift ...
Main Line in the
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
neighborhood of
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. It is located at and over 79th Street, and is away from the northern terminus at
Millennium Station
Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Terminal; sometimes called Randolph Street station or Randolph/South Water Street station) is a major commuter rail terminal in the Loop (downtown), Chicago. It is the northern terminus of the Metra ...
. In Metra's zone-based fare system, 79th Street is in zone B. , the station is the 212th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 50 weekday boardings.
On July 10, 2023, the station was temporarily closed to the public for reconstruction. The project, which will update the station and make the platform ADA-Accessible, is expected to take seven months.
East of this station is another Metra Electric station along 79th Street (known as ) along the South Chicago Branch. Like much of the main branch of the Metra Electric line, 79th Street-Chatham is built on elevated tracks near the embankment of a bridge over 79th Street. This bridge also carries the
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
Illini and Saluki
The ''Illini'' and ''Saluki'' are a pair of passenger trains operated by Amtrak along a route between Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. They are part of Amtrak's Illinois Service and are primarily funded by the state of Illinois. The route is ...
'' trains. Parking is available only on the southwest corner of 79th Street and Woodlawn Avenue.
The former
Nickel Plate Railroad
The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad , abbreviated NYC&St.L, was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. Commonly referred to as the "Nickel Plate Road", the railroad served parts of the states of New York, Pennsylva ...
passed on a long bridge over the Illinois Central (the current tracks) just north of the station. The bridge still exists, but rail service is long gone.