page_title: Blue Line (CTA)
section_title: O'Hare branch
hierarchical_section_title: Blue Line (CTA) / Route / O'Hare branch
caption_attribution_description: Chicago - O’Hare International Airport Chicago 'L'/ subway station 'O'Hare International Airport' CTA Blue Line Waiting trains bound for 'Forest Park' Wartender Züge Richtung 'Forest Park' DSC00021
context_page_description: The Blue Line is a 26.93-mile-long Chicago "L" line which extends through The Loop from O'Hare International Airport at the far northwest end of the city, through downtown via the Milwaukee-Dearborn Subway and across the West Side to its southwest end at Forest Park, with a total of 33 stations. It is the longest line on the "L" system and second busiest, with an average of 186,796 passengers boarding each weekday in September 2012.
  The Blue Line and Red Line are the only two "L" lines to provide 24-hour service year-round. The Blue Line is also one of only two lines with more than one station with the same name, with the Green Line being the other. The Blue Line also has only two in-system transfers, contains a combination of both the oldest and newest portions of 'L' tracks, and does not share tracks with any other 'L' line.
  Before the adoption of color-coded names, the Blue Line was referred to as the West-Northwest Route or more commonly, the O'Hare-Congress-Douglas route for its three branches. The Congress and Douglas branches were renamed for their terminals, Forest Park and 54th/Cermak, when the current color naming system was adopted in 1993.
context_section_description: The O'Hare branch  is the longest section of the Blue Line (14.6 miles (23.5 km)) and comprises both the oldest and newest segments of the entire route. The line starts at O'Hare station in an underground station below the main parking garage, with direct pedestrian access to Terminals 1, 2 and 3. The line emerges in the median of the O'Hare main access road (Interstate 190) just northwest of Terminal 5, about a mile (1.6 km) west of Mannheim Road. The line runs in the median of Interstate 190 east through Rosemont. The line has a station at River Road in Rosemont, which is also the location of the northern storage yard and served as a temporary terminal from 1983 to 1984 while the O'Hare station was being completed. The tracks then tunnel beneath the Kennedy Expressway/Northwest Tollway interchange near the Des Plaines River. The line runs in the median of the Kennedy Expressway (Interstate 90) until a point southeast of Addison Street, making stops at Cumberland, Harlem, Jefferson Park, Montrose, Irving Park and Addison. Between Montrose and Irving Park, the line tunnels beneath an express lane exit. South of Addison Street, the line descends into a subway and turns south under Kimball Avenue. The line travels under Kimball Avenue and Milwaukee Avenues through Logan Square, making stops at Belmont and Logan Square. South of Logan Square, the line emerges above ground onto an elevated structure parallel to Milwaukee Avenue. This section of structure, built in 1895 as part of the Metropolitan Elevated's Logan Square branch, is the oldest portion of the Blue Line, and the sole section of the line on an elevated viaduct. The three stations on this section (California, Western, and Damen) are also the only three stations on the line to use side platforms instead of island platforms.
caption: The Blue Line terminal at O'Hare International Airport
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