During the heyday of rail transportation in the first half of the 20th century, Chicago, Illinois, reigned as the undisputed railroad center of the United States and was served by six

intercity train Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains. There is no precise definition of inter-city rail; its meaning may vary from country ...

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...

s at its peak. With the decline of passenger rail in the United States, service was consolidated at Union Station with inter-city Amtrak trains. Commuter railroad Metra continues passenger service at

LaSalle Street Station LaSalle Street Station is a commuter rail terminal at 414 South LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago. First used as a rail terminal in 1852, it was a major intercity rail terminal for the New York Central Railroad until 1968, and for the Chicago, R ...

, Millennium Station, and Ogilvie Transportation Center, as well as Union Station. Three Metra services are operated by the Union Pacific Railroad, while another is operated by the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

. The South Shore Line, an independent commuter/interurban line operates out of Millennium Station. Most of the terminals were in the downtown area called the " Chicago Loop". Ogilvie Station and Union Station were west of the Chicago River and the Loop; Wells Station was north of the river and the Loop. The table below shows all railroads that have served downtown Chicago and what terminal they used. Services partially replaced by or wholly discontinued with Amtrak or Metra are marked in Bold. NOTE: From 1883 to 1892, the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

had a depot between Madison and Monroe Streets, trackage rights via the Illinois Central Railroad. The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad ("Nickel Plate Road") used the Illinois Central Railroad local station at 22nd Street in 1882, and the B&O depot in 1883. Future tenants of Dearborn Station used the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad depot at 12th and State between 1880 and 1885. The Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway used its own depot before gaining access to 12th and State depot in 1882. The Chicago, Terre Haute and Southeastern Railway, later part of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("Milwaukee Road"), never had passenger service in the Chicago area. The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad and the

Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad The Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad (CA&E), known colloquially as the "Roarin' Elgin" or the "Great Third Rail", was an interurban railroad that operated passenger and freight service on its line between Chicago and Aurora, Batavia, Geneva, St. ...

used tracks of the

Chicago "L" The Chicago "L" (short for "elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it is the fourth-largest rapid tr ...

, specifically the Loop Elevated and Wells Street Terminal. The Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway had a terminal at Archer Avenue and Cicero Avenue. In the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire, a C&NW freight depot at State and Water Streets was used as a temporary passenger depot since Wells Street Station had burned. "Canal Street" refers to two depots: the C&NW depot (former Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad) and the original

Galena and Chicago Union Railroad The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU) was a railroad running west from Chicago to Freeport, Illinois, never reaching Galena, Illinois. A later route went to Clinton, Iowa. Incorporated in 1836, the G&CU became the first railroad built out ...

depot (later used by the Chicago and Milwaukee Railway). Both burned in 1871, only the C&NW depot was rebuilt.

Notes

About the BNSF Line

About the Union Pacific-operated Metra lines

About the SouthWest Service

References