Ravenswood station

Ravenswood
General information
Location4800 North Ravenswood Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60640
Coordinates41°58′06″N 87°40′27″W / 41.9684°N 87.6743°W / 41.9684; -87.6743
Owned byMetra
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks2
Connections Brown at Damen
Local Transit CTA Buses
Construction
AccessibleYes
Other information
Fare zone2
History
Rebuilt1970, 2012–2023
Passengers
20182,630 (average weekday)[1]Decrease 3.3%
Rank3 out of 236[1]
Services
Preceding station Metra Following station
Peterson/Ridge
toward Kenosha
Union Pacific North Clybourn
toward Ogilvie
Location
Map

Ravenswood is a railroad station on the North Side of Chicago serving Metra's Union Pacific North Line. It is located at 4800 North Ravenswood Avenue, just south of West Lawrence Avenue. A previous Ravenswood station was located at Wilson Avenue, but was replaced with the station at the current location,[2] opposite the Chicago and North Western Railway's Ravenswood Accounting Office & Carload Tracing Bureau, which were housed in a building at 4801 North Ravenswood Avenue.[citation needed] In Metra's zone-based fare system, Ravenswood is in zone 2. As of 2018, Ravenswood is the third busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 2,630 weekday boardings.[1] Ravenswood station is near the eastern edge of the Chicago neighborhood also known as Ravenswood and the western edge of Uptown.

The station consists of two side platforms, and does not contain a ticket agent booth. Northbound trains stop on the west platform and southbound trains stop on the east platform. Trains go south to Ogilvie Transportation Center and as far north as Kenosha, Wisconsin. It is the busiest station on the UP North Line and was rebuilt starting in the fall of 2010 as part of a project that included replacing 12 bridges along this line.[3] The new station was expected to be completed by May 2014,[4] but was completed in 2023.

The Lawrence Avenue entrance to the east platform opened on August 1, 2023, making the station accessible. The station was formally dedicated on October 3, 2023.

As of February 16, 2024, Ravenswood is served by all 70 trains (35 in each direction) on weekdays, by 24 trains (12 in each direction) on Saturdays, and by all 18 trains (nine in each direction) on Sundays and holidays. During the summer concert season, the extra weekend train to Ravinia Park also stops here.

The Damen 'L' station on CTA's Brown Line is three blocks to the west, while the closest Red Line station is Lawrence, located about 0.8 miles (1.3 km) east of Ravenswood station.

  1. ^ a b c "Commuter Rail System Station Boarding/Alighting Count: Summary Results Fall 2018" (PDF). Metra. April 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2019.
  2. ^ Unger, Rudolph (November 14, 1958). "Boost Affects 40,000 Daily". Chicago Tribune. p. 8. Retrieved September 13, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ Wronski, Richard (July 16, 2010). "Bridge rebuilding will mean changes for Metra commuters". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on July 19, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
  4. ^ Patty Wetli (January 15, 2014). "Metra Aiming for May Opening of New Ravenswood Station". DNAInfo Chicago. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.