Forest Park (CTA station)

Forest Park
Location	711 South Des Plaines Avenue Forest Park, Illinois 60130
Coordinates	41°52′27″N 87°49′02″W / 41.874257°N 87.817318°W / 41.874257; -87.817318
Owned by	Chicago Transit Authority, City of Forest Park
Line(s)	Blue Line
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Parking	1051 Spaces
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	March 11, 1905
Rebuilt	1953, 1959, 1981–82
Previous names	Des Plaines
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	1,135,352  1.9% (CTA)
Rank	66 out of 143
Services
Preceding station   Chicago "L"   Following station Harlem toward O'Hare Blue Line Congress Branch Terminus
Route map Blue Line east to O'Hare Des Plaines Ave. To yard

Forest Park is a station on the Chicago Transit Authority's 'L' system, located in the city of Forest Park, Illinois and serving the Blue Line. Before the Congress Line was built, it served as terminal for the Garfield Line. It is the western terminus of the Forest Park branch. The station was known as Des Plaines until 1994. It is also referred to as the Forest Park Transit Center by Pace because it is a major terminal for Pace buses. The station contains a 1051-space Park and Ride lot which uses the "Pay and Display" system, in which fees are paid at the lot entrance. It is located next to the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad tracks but that railroad line curves away from the station towards the Madison Street level crossing where its ownership ends.

Forest Park opened in 1902, as a local interurban station on the Aurora Elgin and Chicago Railway. On March 11, 1905, the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad extended its Garfield Park rapid transit service west over the tracks of the Aurora Elgin and Chicago. At this time Forest Park became the western terminal for the 'L' while continuing to serve as an interurban station. In 1958, the Congress Branch opened in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, the blue line was rerouted and connected to the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway Station LaSalle making Forest Park, the southern terminus of the blue line. Forest Park, however, is one of the few stations in the Congress Branch line that is not in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, and is 350 meters (1,148 ft 4 in) north of it. In 1966, the park-and-ride schedule of 1051 seats was opened and a new station was built and completed in December 1982 along with the Transit Center that provides connection to many bus lines.

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Wikipedia