page_title: Ogilvie Transportation Center
section_title: Platforms and tracks
hierarchical_section_title: Ogilvie Transportation Center / Platforms and tracks
caption_attribution_description: English: Ogilvie station from the Willis (Sears) Tower
context_page_description: The Richard B. Ogilvie Transportation Center is a commuter rail terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is the terminus for the three commuter rail lines of Metra's Union Pacific District to Chicago's northern and western suburbs, which approach the terminal elevated above street level. It occupies the lower floors of the 500 West Madison Street building. The building occupies two square city 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. It is the second busiest rail station in Chicago, after nearby Chicago Union Station, the sixth-busiest railway station in North America, and the third-busiest station that exclusively serves commuter traffic.
context_section_description: The station has 16 tracks with eight island platforms, each island platform servicing two tracks. Not all the platforms are the same length; the platforms on the western part of the station (tracks 1–10) are significantly longer than the eastern platforms. In general, West Line trains depart from the western platforms (roughly tracks 1–5), Northwest Line trains depart from the middle tracks (6–11), and North Line trains depart from the eastern tracks (12–16). This is done so that departing and arriving trains do not have to make large switch movements, which would block the use of other tracks and prevent multiple trains from arriving and departing at the same time. Just north of the station, the number of tracks reduces from 16 to six. Switches allow for trains on any of the 16 station tracks to end up on any of these six tracks, and vice versa. About a third of a mile from the station, the six tracks split into two mainlines of four tracks. One mainline turns west, while the other turns northwest. West Line trains take the west tracks, while Northwest and North Line trains take the northwest tracks.
caption: Ogilvie Transportation Center platforms as seen from the Willis (Sears) tower, July 2019. A Harlem-bound Green Line train is visible
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