Brown Line (CTA)

Brown Line (CTA)

The Brown Line (or the Ravenswood Line) of the Chicago 'L' rapid transit system, is an 11.4-mile (18.3 km) (check infobox for time lengths) route with 28 stations between Albany Park on the north and downtown Chicago. It runs completely above ground and is almost entirely grade-separated. It is CTA's third busiest rail line, with an average of 113,611 passengers boarding each weekday in September 2012. The Brown Line runs completely within the city limits of Chicago, Illinois.

The Brown Line operates to the Loop weekdays and Saturdays from about 5am to 12:30am and on Sundays from 7am to midnight. The Brown Line Shuttle service, running only between the northern terminus Kimball and Belmont, runs from about 4am to 5am and about 12:30am to 2:30 am on weekdays and Saturdays, and about 5am to 6am and about midnight to 1am on Sundays. At Belmont, southbound riders can transfer to the 24-hour Red Line.

Before CTA lines were color-coded in 1993, the Brown Line was known as the Ravenswood Route; specifically, the series of stations from Belmont to Kimball were called the Ravenswood branch. Accordingly, the Kimball-Belmont shuttle service was called the Ravenswood Shuttle.