Chicago 'L' route planner
Two stations in, a real answer out: time, stops, changes, fare and arrival — built on the CTA's own timetable.
Every station, real journey times from CTA's own timetable — including whether the train you need is actually running at that hour.
How this works
The planner runs a shortest-path search across the whole ‘L’ network — all 143 open stations and every track segment between them. The times are not estimates: each segment carries the real journey time from CTA’s published timetable, and changing lines adds a realistic wait based on how often the line you are changing to actually runs at that hour.
Three things it gets right that a simple map does not:
- It knows what is running. Ask for Linden to the Loop at 8am and it puts you on the Purple Line Express, direct. Ask at noon and it routes you via Howard and the Red Line, because the Express does not run at noon.
- It knows what is closed. At 3am it will only offer the Red and Blue lines, because nothing else is running. If there is genuinely no route at that hour it says so rather than inventing one.
- It knows the walking transfers. Jackson Blue to Jackson Red is a free walk inside the station; Lake to Washington is free but you must tap again; the Library to Jackson means going out to the street. It tells you which.
Getting around: the things worth knowing
Read the front of the train, not the compass
Downtown, Brown/Orange/Pink/Purple trains run around the Loop and back out the way they came, so 'northbound' means nothing there. On the Green Line south of Garfield, trains alternate between Ashland/63rd and Cottage Grove.
Changing lines is free
At an interchange you simply walk across — no second tap, no extra fare. Even leaving the system, you get two more rides free within two hours.
Two lines never close
Red and Blue run 24 hours. If it is 3am, those are your options — and the Blue Line goes to O'Hare.
State/Lake is shut until 2029
Use Washington/Wabash or Clark/Lake. Both are step-free.
Planner questions
They come from CTA’s published timetable, so they are as accurate as the timetable is. What they cannot know is today: delays, weekend track work or a signal problem. Check the service status before you leave, and CTA’s Train Tracker for where the trains actually are right now.
Because the network genuinely changes. The Purple Line Express only runs at weekday rush hours; six of the eight lines close overnight. A planner that ignores that will happily route you onto a train that is not running — which is the most common way these tools are wrong.
No — this is an ‘L’ planner. Buses fill a lot of gaps in Chicago, and CTA’s own trip planner covers both. If your two points are both near the ‘L’, this will be faster to use.
The planner does not yet route step-free only. Every station page states plainly whether that station has a lift, and the walking transfer at Lake/Washington is flagged as not step-free — for a guaranteed accessible Red/Blue change, use Jackson.