Ogilvie Transportation Center
Encyclopedia
The Richard B. Ogilvie Transportation Center (icon) is a passenger terminal
in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA, serving the three commuter rail lines of Metra
's Union Pacific District, which approach the terminal elevated above street level. It occupies the lower floors of the Citigroup Center. The building occupies two square blocks
, bounded by Randolph Street
and Madison Street
to the north and south and by Canal Street and Clinton Street to the east and west.
built the Chicago and North Western Terminal in 1911 to replace its Wells Street Station
across the North Branch of the Chicago River. The new station, in the Renaissance Revival style, was designed by Frost and Granger, also the architects for the 1903 LaSalle Street Station
.
The station's 16 tracks were elevated above street level and "reached by six approach tracks and sheltered under an 894-foot-long [272 meter] Bush train shed." The upper level of the head house
housed a concourse and other facilities for intercity passengers, including "dressing rooms, baths, nurses and matrons rooms, and a doctor's office." The centerpiece of the upper level was a stately waiting room, measuring 34 by 62 meters (102 by 202 feet), and rising 26 meters (84 ft) to its barrel-vaulted
ceiling. In addition to the main concourse on the upper level, there was a street-level concourse for commuters.
During the heyday of rail travel, the Chicago and North Western Terminal was home to the C&NW's trains to Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St Paul, Madison
and other cities of the upper Midwest, including the railroad's premier "400" series of trains. Until October 30, 1955, it was also the Chicago terminus of the trains the Union Pacific ran in conjunction with the C&NW, including the Overland Limited and the famed "City" trains. See below for some of the best known of the trains served by this station.
, which was completed three years later in 1987. The station was re-named the Ogilvie Transportation Center in 1997, two years after the C&NW merged into the Union Pacific Railroad
. The station was named for Richard B. Ogilvie
, a board member of the Milwaukee Road
and a lifelong railroad proponent, who, as governor of Illinois
, created the RTA, which is the parent agency of Metra. The station remains known colloquially as North Western Station or North Western Terminal.
In 1991 Metra purchased the train shed from Chicago and North Western and conducted a survey to determine the condition. The examination included necessary repairs needed to improve its structural integrity and redesign measures to bring the station up to modern mass commuting standards. After completing a thorough evaluation, Metra, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, and the Illinois Department of Transportation decided to completely rehabilitate the structure and in 1992, with the assistance of Federal funding, a contractor and management team were selected to begin the work.
Many engineering challenges had to be addressed and resolved, not only because of the train shed’s prominent location but also due to its high traffic volume as it was to remain operational to 45,000 daily commutes during the project. Such challenges included the removal of original lead paint, the complete replacement of all 16 tracks (serving 200 trains a day), extensive structural steel repairs (under load), erection of a new steel canopy, complete exterior masonry restoration, new electrical and plumbing, and construction of a new pedestrian concourse. During the rehabilitation project, which lasted four years and cost $138 million, over 60 contractors spent more 800,000 man hours performing repairs and producing new construction.
The Chicago and North Western Terminal has served as a terminal for all the commuter and intercity trains of the Chicago and North Western Railway
. In addition, on November 9, 1969, the day after Grand Central Station
closed, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
and Pere Marquette Railway
, Grand Central's two remaining users, moved their remaining intercity services into the C&NW's terminal. Those trains, which used the C&NW's branch to the St. Charles Air Line west of Western Avenue
, last ran on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak
took over most intercity passenger trains in the U.S. Amtrak services over the lines of those two railroads have run into Union Station
.
Metra
's three Union Pacific District lines - the Union Pacific/North Line
, Union Pacific/Northwest Line
and Union Pacific/West Line
- now provide regular commuter rail service along three former C&NW lines. In Metra's zone-based fare schedule, Ogilvie is in Zone A. Approximately 37,500 people board Metra trains at Ogilvie Transportation Center each day.
or Washington Boulevard via the Citigroup Center or through a lower level concourse accessible by the track platforms between Washington Boulevard and Randolph Street with entrances at Canal and Clinton Streets. Ogilvie is served by the Green and the Pink lines of the CTA's
'L'
system, three blocks north of Madison Street on Clinton and Lake Streets; passengers can use the Washington/Randolph concourse exit to walk one and a half blocks to Clinton.
CTA Buses
Union Pacific/Chicago & North Western trains
Passenger terminal
Passenger terminal may refer to:*A train station terminus at the end of a railway line*Airport terminal, a building at an airport where passengers board and disembark from aircraft...
in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA, serving the three commuter rail lines of Metra
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail division of the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority. The system serves Chicago and its metropolitan area through 240 stations on 11 different rail lines. Throughout the 21st century, Metra has been the second busiest commuter rail system in the United States by...
's Union Pacific District, which approach the terminal elevated above street level. It occupies the lower floors of the Citigroup Center. The building occupies two square blocks
City block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
, bounded by Randolph Street
Randolph Street (Chicago)
Randolph Street is a street in Chicago. It runs east-west through the Chicago Loop, carrying westbound traffic west from Michigan Avenue across the Chicago River on the Randolph Street Bridge, interchanging with the Kennedy Expressway , and continuing west. It serves as the northern boundary of...
and Madison Street
Madison Street (Chicago)
Madison Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to human intervention, the Chicago River emptied into Lake Michigan at the present day intersection of Madison Street and Michigan Avenue....
to the north and south and by Canal Street and Clinton Street to the east and west.
History
The 1911 station
The Chicago and North Western RailwayChicago and North Western Railway
The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...
built the Chicago and North Western Terminal in 1911 to replace its Wells Street Station
Wells Street Station (Chicago)
Wells Street Station was a passenger terminal of the Chicago and North Western Railway, located at the southwest corner of Wells Street and Kinzie Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It was replaced in 1911 by the Chicago and North Western Terminal on the other side of the North Branch of the Chicago...
across the North Branch of the Chicago River. The new station, in the Renaissance Revival style, was designed by Frost and Granger, also the architects for the 1903 LaSalle Street Station
LaSalle Street Station
LaSalle Street Station is a commuter rail terminal at 414 S. LaSalle Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois, serving Metra's Rock Island District. It was a major intercity rail terminal for the New York Central Railroad until 1968 and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad until 1978. The...
.
The station's 16 tracks were elevated above street level and "reached by six approach tracks and sheltered under an 894-foot-long [272 meter] Bush train shed." The upper level of the head house
Head house
A head house is a part of a train station.-Rail terminals:In the context of rail transport, head house refers to that portion of a passenger terminal not housing the tracks and platforms themselves. Typically, the head house contains ticket counters, toilets and baggage facilities, if there are...
housed a concourse and other facilities for intercity passengers, including "dressing rooms, baths, nurses and matrons rooms, and a doctor's office." The centerpiece of the upper level was a stately waiting room, measuring 34 by 62 meters (102 by 202 feet), and rising 26 meters (84 ft) to its barrel-vaulted
Barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault or a wagon vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve along a given distance. The curves are typically circular in shape, lending a semi-cylindrical appearance to the total design...
ceiling. In addition to the main concourse on the upper level, there was a street-level concourse for commuters.
During the heyday of rail travel, the Chicago and North Western Terminal was home to the C&NW's trains to Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St Paul, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
and other cities of the upper Midwest, including the railroad's premier "400" series of trains. Until October 30, 1955, it was also the Chicago terminus of the trains the Union Pacific ran in conjunction with the C&NW, including the Overland Limited and the famed "City" trains. See below for some of the best known of the trains served by this station.
The 1984 station
In 1984 the 1911 head house was razed and replaced with the glass-and-steel 42-story Citicorp CenterCiticorp Center (Chicago)
Citigroup Center is a 42 story, 588-foot skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. Located at 500 W. Madison , the structure was designed by the architecture firm Murphy/Jahn in a late modernist style...
, which was completed three years later in 1987. The station was re-named the Ogilvie Transportation Center in 1997, two years after the C&NW merged into the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
. The station was named for Richard B. Ogilvie
Richard B. Ogilvie
Richard Buell Ogilvie was the 35th Governor of Illinois from 1969 to 1973. A wounded combat veteran of World War II, he achieved fame as the mafia-fighting Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois in the 1960s....
, a board member of the Milwaukee Road
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until its merger into the Soo Line Railroad on January 1, 1986. The company went through several official names...
and a lifelong railroad proponent, who, as governor of Illinois
Governor of Illinois
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state....
, created the RTA, which is the parent agency of Metra. The station remains known colloquially as North Western Station or North Western Terminal.
1991 rehabilitation
Many engineering challenges had to be addressed and resolved, not only because of the train shed’s prominent location but also due to its high traffic volume as it was to remain operational to 45,000 daily commutes during the project. Such challenges included the removal of original lead paint, the complete replacement of all 16 tracks (serving 200 trains a day), extensive structural steel repairs (under load), erection of a new steel canopy, complete exterior masonry restoration, new electrical and plumbing, and construction of a new pedestrian concourse. During the rehabilitation project, which lasted four years and cost $138 million, over 60 contractors spent more 800,000 man hours performing repairs and producing new construction.
Services
Chicago and North Western Railway
The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...
. In addition, on November 9, 1969, the day after Grand Central Station
Grand Central Station (Chicago)
Grand Central Station was a passenger railroad terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois, from 1890 to 1969. It was located at 201 W. Harrison Street in the south-western part of the Chicago Loop, the block bounded by Harrison Street, Wells Street, Polk Street and the Chicago River...
closed, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
and Pere Marquette Railway
Pere Marquette Railway
The Pere Marquette Railway was a railroad that operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada. The railroad had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections included Buffalo; Toledo; and Chicago.The company was...
, Grand Central's two remaining users, moved their remaining intercity services into the C&NW's terminal. Those trains, which used the C&NW's branch to the St. Charles Air Line west of Western Avenue
Western Avenue (Chicago)
Western Avenue is the longest continuous street within the city of Chicago at in length. Western Avenue extends south as a continuous road to the Dixie Highway at Sibley Boulevard in Dixmoor, giving the road a total length of . However, Western Avenue extends intermittently through the...
, last ran on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
took over most intercity passenger trains in the U.S. Amtrak services over the lines of those two railroads have run into Union Station
Union Station (Chicago)
Union Station is a major train station that opened in 1925 in Chicago, replacing an earlier 1881 station. It is now the only intercity rail terminal in Chicago, as well as being the city's primary terminal for commuter trains. The station stands on the west side of the Chicago River between Adams...
.
Metra
Metra
Metra is the commuter rail division of the Illinois Regional Transportation Authority. The system serves Chicago and its metropolitan area through 240 stations on 11 different rail lines. Throughout the 21st century, Metra has been the second busiest commuter rail system in the United States by...
's three Union Pacific District lines - the Union Pacific/North Line
Union Pacific/North Line
The Union Pacific/North is a commuter rail line in the Chicago metropolitan area that runs between Chicago and Waukegan, Illinois, with some trains continuing to Kenosha, Wisconsin. It is part of the Metra system, but it is operated by the Union Pacific Railroad...
, Union Pacific/Northwest Line
Union Pacific/Northwest Line
The Union Pacific/Northwest is a commuter rail line provided by Metra and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago, Illinois, and its surrounding suburbs...
and Union Pacific/West Line
Union Pacific/West Line
The Union Pacific/West is a commuter rail line provided by Metra and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago, Illinois, and its surrounding suburbs...
- now provide regular commuter rail service along three former C&NW lines. In Metra's zone-based fare schedule, Ogilvie is in Zone A. Approximately 37,500 people board Metra trains at Ogilvie Transportation Center each day.
Bus and 'L' connections
Bus connections can be made on Madison StreetMadison Street (Chicago)
Madison Street is a major east-west street in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to human intervention, the Chicago River emptied into Lake Michigan at the present day intersection of Madison Street and Michigan Avenue....
or Washington Boulevard via the Citigroup Center or through a lower level concourse accessible by the track platforms between Washington Boulevard and Randolph Street with entrances at Canal and Clinton Streets. Ogilvie is served by the Green and the Pink lines of the CTA's
Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago Transit Authority, also known as CTA, is the operator of mass transit within the City of Chicago, Illinois and some of its surrounding suburbs....
'L'
Chicago 'L'
The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...
system, three blocks north of Madison Street on Clinton and Lake Streets; passengers can use the Washington/Randolph concourse exit to walk one and a half blocks to Clinton.
CTA Buses
-
#14 Jeffery Express -
#19 United Center Express -
#20 Madison (Owl Service) -
#56 Milwaukee -
#60 Blue Island/26th (Owl Service) -
#120 Ogilvie/Wacker Express -
#122 Illinois Center/Ogilvie Express -
#124 Navy Pier -
#125 Water Tower Express -
#126 Jackson -
#128 Soldier Field Express (Game Days / Major Concerts Only) -
#129 West Loop/South Loop -
#130 Museum Campus (Summer Service Only) -
#157 Streeterville/Taylor -
#192 University of Chicago Hospitals Express
Major trains of the pre-Amtrak era
Chicago & North Western trains- North Western Limited
- Twin Cities 400Twin Cities 400The 400 was a named passenger train operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago and Saint Paul, with a final stop in Minneapolis...
- Flambeau 400
- Rochester 400Rochester 400The Rochester 400 was the last in a series of streamlined passenger trains operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway along the railroad's southern Minnesota line...
- Kate Shelley 400
- Dakota 400
Union Pacific/Chicago & North Western trains
- Overland Limited
- City of San FranciscoCity of San FranciscoThe City of San Francisco was a streamlined passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Southern Pacific Railroad, and the Union Pacific Railroad...
- City of Los AngelesCity of Los AngelesThe City of Los Angeles was a streamlined passenger train that ran between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, via Omaha, Nebraska, and Ogden, Utah. Between Omaha and Los Angeles it ran on the Union Pacific Railroad; east of Omaha it ran on the Chicago and North Western Railway until...
- City of PortlandCity of PortlandThe City of Portland was a named passenger train operated by the Union Pacific Railroad and Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago, Illinois, and Portland, Oregon. It started in June 1935, using the refurbished M-10001 streamliner trainset; with only one set of equipment the train left...
- City of DenverCity of DenverThe City of Denver was a passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago and North Western and Union Pacific railroads. The train operated on both railroads' rights of way between Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, Colorado...
- Gold Coast