Ride the CTA Holiday Train

POSTED BY
Carol

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Prepare for the madness.

The Chicagoist published this article about riding the CTA Holiday train. It sounds pretty awful. On Saturdays they will be running a second Elves train behind the Santa train in an attempt to alleviate the overcrowding on the Santa train. We’ll see.

When and Where

When: Nov. 23, -Dec. 21, 2018. The train generally operates from about 1pm to 8pm on weekends and 3pm to 7pm on select weekdays (schedules for each rail line will vary), and will make stops at all stations along the respective routes. Full schedule below.

Where: All CTA rail lines Regular CTA fares apply: $2.25 one way; $5.00 from O’hare.

What is it?

The Chicago Transit Authority is getting into the holiday spirit with the Holiday Train. Santa will ride on his own train and a second train (on Saturdays only) will carry his elves who will pass out candy canes and season’s greetings.

The outside of the six-car train is adorned with holiday seasonal images, thousands of twinkling lights with even more lights running across the tops of the cars. The interiors re decked out with thousands of multi-colored lights, red bows, garland, and red and green overhead lighting. The hand poles are wrapped to look like candy canes.

As the train pulls into each station, Santa waves to the boarding passengers from his sleigh on an open-air flatcar carrying his reindeer and decorated holiday trees.

Here’s my experience with the CTA Holiday Bus which is running Nov 27-Dec 23, 2018.

2018 Allstate CTA Holiday Train schedule Click the dates below to see full details. (Unlinked dates will have detailed schedules added soon.)
Green Line & Orange Line	Fri 11/23
Green Line	Sat 11/24
Green Line & Orange Line	Tue 11/27
Orange Line & Brown Line	Wed 11/28
Orange Line & Brown Line	Thu 11/29
Orange Line & Brown Line	Fri 11/30
Orange Line & Brown Line	Sat 12/1
Pink Line	Tue 12/4
Pink Line	Wed 12/5
Blue Line	Thu 12/6
Blue Line	Fri 12/7
Blue Line (+ photo-only stop on Pink Line)	Sat 12/8
Red Line	Tue 12/11
Purple Line	Wed 12/12
Red Line	Thu 12/13
Purple Line	Fri 12/14
Red Line & Purple Line	Sat 12/15
Purple Line	Thu 12/20
Yellow Line	Fri 12/21