Harlem station (CTA Blue Line Congress branch)

Harlem
Looking down the platform. The tracks to the left belong to the Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad(now CSX).
Location	701 South Harlem Avenue Forest Park, Illinois 60130
Coordinates	41°52′25″N 87°48′25″W / 41.87349°N 87.806961°W
Owned by	Chicago Transit Authority
Line(s)	Blue Line
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Surface Level
History
Opened	March 20, 1960[1][2]
Traffic
Passengers (2015)	386,381[3]  5.2% (CTA)
Rank	126 out of 143[lower-alpha 1]
Services
Preceding station   Chicago "L"   Following station Oak Park toward O'Hare Blue Line Congress Branch Forest Park Terminus

Harlem is a station on the 'L' system, serving the Blue Line's Forest Park branch in Forest Park, Illinois. The station was built with an auxiliary entrance at Circle Avenue that was eventually converted to an exit only facility. The Circle Avenue entrance repoened as an auxiliary entrance/exit on September 26, 2009, at 4 PM.^[4]

Harlem opened in 1960 and is composed of a main entrance on Harlem Street and an auxiliary entrance on Circle Avenue, providing access to a central platform. Harlem is open 24/7 365 days a year as part of the overnight service of the Blue Line and an annual total of 346,005 passengers have boarded the station in 2012.^[5] The station is not to be confused with the Blue Line's other station on Harlem Avenue that is located on the Kennedy Expressway portion of the line.

Station layout

G	Ground level	Entrance/Exit, station building
P Platform level	Southbound	← Blue Line toward Forest Park (Terminus)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Northbound	→ Blue Line toward O'Hare (Oak Park) →

Bus connections

Pace

• #307 Harlem

See also

• Harlem (CTA Blue Line O'Hare branch station)
• Harlem (CTA Green Line station)

Notes and references

Notes

1. Due to possible double-counting of physically-connected stations, the CTA's official 2015 tally of stations was 146, but for ridership purposes reported having only 143 stations.

References

1. "CTA to Open New Congress Right of Way". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 20, 1960. p. W3.
2. "Congress CTA on Permanent Right of Way". Chicago Daily Tribune. March 20, 1960. p. 25.
3. "Monthly Ridership Report – December 2015" (PDF). Chicago Transit Authority Ridership Analysis and Reporting. January 11, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
4. "Changes to Circle Avenue Exit at the Harlem Station on Forest Park Branch" (Press release). CTA. 2009-09-25.
5. "2012 Annual Ridership Report" (PDF). Chicago Transit Authority. transitchicago.com. Retrieved October 20, 2013.

External links

Media related to Harlem (CTA Blue Line Congress branch) at Wikimedia Commons

• Harlem (Congress Line) Station Page
• Circle Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Harlem Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

The station from the Circle Avenue overpass.