Chicago's Forgotten 'L' Train Line

Video Description

Trains used to run every 10 minutes on Chicago’s South Lakefront. Today they run every hour, if you’re lucky. What happened here? The modern-day Metra Electric South Chicago Branch is an electrified commuter rail line that runs for about 13 miles from downtown Chicago south along the lakefront through Hyde Park and down to the historic neighborhoods of South Shore and South Chicago. Back in the day, this line was called the Illinois Central (IC) Electric, and it was less of a commuter railroad and more of a rapid transit line similar to Chicago’s famous Elevated ‘L’ trains operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). It was originally part of the IC’s elaborate plan to run a ton of service to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The line became so successful that the city required it to electrify its services in 1919 to mitigate the smoke on the city’s lakefront. As car ownership surged mid-century, prospects for privately-owned rail companies nationwide grew more and more grim. At the same time, urban neighborhoods like South Shore were often the site of massive white flight and systemic disinvestment from the 1950s all the way up to the 1990s. The neighborhood went from being less than five percent Black in 1950 to 94% Black in 1980. This Black History Month, it’s fitting to look at a story where the infrastructure began to see disinvestment just as a neighborhood transitioned from majority white to majority Black. The IC, which was traditionally billed as a railroad for elite customers, scaled back its services on the South Lakefront as competition from the cta and the unprofitability of its own operations strangled the line. Today, Metra tries to shoehorn this infrastructure into a weekday 9-5 commuter oriented schedule, and the line’s ridership says it all: 3.8 million riders in 2024 versus 47 million at its peak in 1946. The story of the IC Electric’s decline is marked by themes of urban renewal, white flight, and auto age motorcentrism, to name just a few. What’s clear now is that the infrastructure is built for much, much more than what it serves. In this video we also look at two of the proposed future plans for the railroad, including the Gray Line plan and the 2034sight CrossTowners plan created by local transit advocate Star:Line Chicago. Whether you’re a history buff, transit fan, or just a generally curious mind who wonders why we don’t have as many trains as we used to in this country, this video has something for you. LINKS: - Malika's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milestone.malika?igsh=MWUyOGl5aW5wZjFhcA== - My Patreon: patreon.com/CarFreeKeith Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:13 Modern-Day Overview 02:03 Early History & Electrification 03:50 The IC Electric in its Heyday 05:38 New Logo Reveal 06:30 Decline of the IC Electric 09:54 Ideas for the Future 11:50 End Credits #Chicago #Metra #BlackHistoryMonth #ElectrifiedRail #PassengerRail #Urbanism #Transit #cta #RailHistory