(rshsdepot) Randolph Station - Chicago, IL

[Bernie Wagenblast <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Photo links:
http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Chicago/MetraElectric/RandolphPlatform
.jpg  (platforms w/trains in station)
http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Chicago/MetraElectric/RandolphInterior
.jpg  (entrance gates)

Metra spending $15m to rehab Randolph Station

BY GARY WISBY STAFF REPORTER
Chicago Sun-Times
February 16, 2002

A $15 million renovation of Randolph Street Station will include bigger
concourses, better lighting, new vendors and, for the first time,
air-conditioned waiting areas, Metra said Friday.
Work on the station, which is underground near Michigan Avenue, was slowed
by rebuilding of Randolph Street overhead. Construction of Millennium Park
above tracks south of the station added more delay.
"The importance of this station to Chicago will be further enhanced because
of its connectivity with the new Millennium Park," said Metra Chairman
Jeffrey R. Ladd. "We're sorry it has taken so long to get this project
started."
Construction should be completed by 2004. Teng and Associates designed the
depot, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is in charge of architectural
finishes.
Commuter trains have been using Randolph Street as a terminal since the
Illinois Central Railroad launched Chicago's first commuter train from there
in 1856.
The station later was razed, but when the railroad electrified its commuter
service in the 1920s, the terminal was built at a cost of $2.6 million. The
Prudential Building entombed the station and its tracks in 1952 after the
railroad sold the air rights over the tracks.
Since acquiring the commuter division of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad
in 1987, Metra has put more than $500 million into rehabilitation work.
About 15,000 commuters use Randolph Street Station each weekday. The
electric system moves 45,000 passengers on more than 170 trains each weekday
over its 31-mile main line to University Park and two shorter branch lines
to South Chicago and Blue Island.

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