Millennium Station

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Millennium Station
(Randolph Street Terminal)
Station statistics
Address Michigan Avenue between South Water & Randolph Street
Chicago, IL
Lines
Metra Electric
South Shore Line
Connections CTA "L" Lines:
Green Line
Brown Line
Orange Line
Pink Line
Purple Line (Rush Hours Only)
(At Randolph/Wabash Station-1 Block West of Station)
CTA Bus Lines: 3, X3, 4, X4, 6, 19, 20, 26, 60, N66, 124, 143, 145, 147, 148, 151, 157, 173,
Chicago Pedway
Other information
Rebuilt 1985, 2005
Accessible Handicapped/disabled access
Owned by METRA
Fare zone A
Formerly Randolph Street Station or Randolph Street Terminal

Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Terminal; sometimes called Randolph Street Station or Randolph/South Water Street Station) is a major commuter rail terminal in downtown Chicago that serves the Metra Electric Line to University Park, Blue Island, and South Chicago; and the South Shore Line to Gary and South Bend, Indiana. The terminal was built by the Illinois Central Railroad and is now owned by the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation, or Metra. Not counting commuters on the South Shore Line, over 18,000 people board Metra trains at Millennium Station each day.[1]

Because the tracks leading to the station go through Grant Park in an open cut, the Illinois Central was required by City Council to electrify its suburban services in 1926.[citation needed] As a result, all lines now terminating at Randolph Street use electric multiple units rather than Diesel push-pull trains like all of Metra's other lines. During peak periods, trains leave the terminal as frequently as twice a minute.

The station was torn apart from the mid-1980s until just recently - 2005 - initially because of construction on the adjacent street, but continued unrenovated for 20 years due to budget constrictions and, eventually, the planning and building of Millennium Park (a project that also took longer than expected to complete). Its steel girders covered with flame retardant material, badly painted plywood, unrelieved concrete floor, construction/utility lights, and cave-like environs which prevailed for two decades have now been transformed into a modern-looking rail station, which was renamed as Millennium Station in 2006.

Contents

[edit] Pedway Connections

Millennium Station serves as a nexus of several Chicago Pedway connections, which links it to several hotels, residential buildings, office buildings, L stations and other notable locations. The pedway itself hosts a number of shops, eateries and services. While some portions of the system remain open at all hours, most of them close by 7:00 PM on weekdays and 6:00 PM on the weekends, rendering significant portion of the system unusable.

[edit] Westbound Corridor

[edit] Eastbound Corridor

[edit] Northbound Corridor

[edit] Via South Water Street Exit

  • Boulevard Towers
  • Illinois Center
  • Hyatt Regency Chicago
  • Columbus Plaza
  • Renaissance Hotel
  • Swissotel Chicago

[edit] See also

[edit] Gallery

Randolph Street Station 1895

Commuter lines terminating at Randolph Street, shown in Panama Orange and Dark South Shore Burgundy on this schematic, serve Chicago's southern and eastern suburbs in Illinois and Indiana

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ On the Bi-Level, October 2007.
Preceding station   Metra   Following station
Terminus Metra Electric
Preceding station   NICTD   Following station
Terminus South Shore Line
toward South Bend
v • d • e
Major intercity railroad stations of Chicago
Active terminals
LaSalle · Ogilvie (North Western) · Millennium · Union (CUSCo)
Former terminals
Central Station · Dearborn (C&WI) · Grand Central (B&OCT) · Central Depot · Galena and Chicago Union · Nickel Plate · Wells (C&NW) · Wells (CA&E) · Columbian Exposition
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