Belmont (CTA Brown Line)

:"You may also be looking for the Belmont station on the Blue Line."Belmont is an 'L' station serving the Chicago Transit Authority's Red and Brown lines, and also the Purple Line Express during weekday rush hours. It is located at 945 West Belmont Avenue in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago (directional coordinates 3200 north, 1000 west). It is an elevated station with two island platforms serving four tracks; Brown and Purple Line trains share the outer tracks while Red Line trains run on the inner tracks. Along with residential areas, the neighborhood surrounding Belmont contains many eclectic shops, bars, and restaurants and active nightlife. The station is one of the more heavily-utilized on the system serving as a busy transfer point, and also as a terminal when the Brown Line operates as a truncated shuttle service to and from Kimball late at night and early in the morning.

History

The first station

Belmont was opened in 1900 as part of the Northwestern Elevated Railroad. The station had two island platforms elevated on a steel structure with tracks on either side. There was a bridge connecting the two platforms to allow transfer from southbound services to northbound trains on another line. The station house was located on the south side of Belmont and contained several turnstiles as well as a customer assistant booth. Beyond the turnstiles was a small caged area leading to stairs; the west staircase led to the southbound platform and the east staircase to the northbound platform. Prior to 1963 there was also a side platform on the west side of Track 1 (the westernmost track), which was used exclusively by the southbound trains of the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad.

Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project

Starting in 2006, and slated for completion in 2009, Belmont station underwent major renovation and reconstruction as part of the Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project. The original station house was renovated and relocated to the north side of Belmont Avenue, a new station house will be constructed and the platforms will be replaced and widened with new canopies added. The station will also become accessible to those with disabilities through the installation of elevators. Because of its importance, the station remained open throughout the entire project unlike other stations which were temporarily closured for periods lasting from a few weekends to several months. [ [http://www.ctabrownline.com/belmont.html Belmont] . CTABrownLine.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-05.] During reconstruction the station was accessed from a more modern, temporary structure adjacent to and east of the original entry. The staging area and job offices for the project are located just north of the Belmont station.

Construction of support systems for the project and demolition of adjacent structures started in 2006, although this was not without controversy. Several businesses in the area were forcefully evicted so their property could be used for construction, leading to some ill-will towards the CTA amongst area residents.

Miscellaneous

In the popular online first-person shooter video game , the Belmont 'L' Station is vaguely represented in the level "cs_assault."

Bus Connections

CTA Buses
* #77 Belmont (Owl Service)

References

External links

* [http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/belmont.html Belmont] at [http://www.chicago-l.org/ Chicago-'L'.org]
* [http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/rail/Belmont.html Train schedules] at [http://www.transitchicago.com/ CTA official site]