History of passenger rail in Chicago

During the heyday of rail transportation in the first half of the 20th century, Chicago reigned as the undisputed railroad center of the United States and was served by six intercity train terminals. With the decline of rail passenger service many of these facilities disappeared; today only Union Station remains in use in a substantially original form, and is the only one served by Amtrak intercity trains. The Chicago and North Western Passenger Terminal has been replaced with a newer station and renamed Ogilvie Transportation Center, and LaSalle Street Station has also been replaced with a newer facility. Millennium Station is on the site of the pre-1893 Illinois Central Railroad Central Depot, used since then only for commuter trains. All four stations are used by Metra commuter service.

The table below shows all lines that have served downtown Chicago and what terminal they used. A red background indicates that the railroad owned a part or full share of the terminal.

railroad	Central Depot (1856–1893) Central Station (1893–1972)	Dearborn (1885–1971)	LaSalle Street (1852–present)	Grand Central (1890–1969)	Union Station (1881–present)	Wells Street (1881–1911) North Western (1911–present)	others
Illinois Central Railroad	1856-1972 (under Amtrak)				1972–present (under Amtrak)		Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street) 1893–present (commuter lines only, under Metra)
[[Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad (1980�1982)|Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad]] (IC)	?-1971						1974-1981 (under Amtrak)
Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville Railroad (C&O)	1907-1910 1925-1933	1910–1925			1974-1977 (under Amtrak)		Hammond ?
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (NYC)	?-1972 (under Amtrak)				1972-1973 (under Amtrak)
Michigan Central Railroad (NYC)	?-1957		1957–1968		1968–present (under Amtrak)
Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad							Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street) 1912–present (under NICTD)
Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad		1885?-1964
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad		1885-?			1974-1975 (under Amtrak)
The Monon (Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway)		1885-?			1975-1979 (under Amtrak) 1980–present (under Amtrak)
Chicago and Erie Railroad (Erie)		1885–1970
Grand Trunk Western Railroad		1885–1971
Wabash Railroad (to St. Louis)		1885–1976			1976–present (under Metra)
Wabash Railroad (to Buffalo)		?
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway		?-1971 (under Amtrak)			1971-1996 (under Amtrak)
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway (NYC)			1852-1900 1903-1968	1900–1903	1968–present (under Amtrak)
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad			1852-1900 1903–present (under Metra)	1900–1903
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad	1882–1892		?				Nickel Plate 1892-?
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad	?-1892/1893?			1892/1893?-1969	1977-1981 (under Amtrak) 1982-1986 (under Amtrak) 1990-1995 (under Amtrak) 1996-2005 (under Amtrak)	1969–1971
Chicago Great Western Railway				1890–1956
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway	1899-1912 1965			1890-1899 1912-1965	1996–present (under Metra)
Pere Marquette Railway	?-1903			1903–1969	1984–present (under Amtrak)	1969–1971
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad	1856-?				1881–present (under Amtrak)
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (to Milwaukee)					1881–present (under Amtrak and Metra)
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (to Omaha)					1881–present (under Metra)
Chicago and Evanston Railroad (MILW)					1885–1908
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (PRR)					1881-1971 1972-1974 (under Amtrak)
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (PRR)					1881-1990 (under Amtrak)
Alton Railroad	?-1881		1858-?		1881–present (under Amtrak and Metra)
Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (C&NW)	1856-?					1881–present (under Metra)	G&CU Depot 1848-1856
Chicago and Milwaukee Railway (C&NW)
Chicago, St. Paul and Fond du Lac Railroad (C&NW)

The Chicago, Terre Haute and Southeastern Railway, later part of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, never had passenger service in the Chicago area.

References