Station Review #114: 27th Street (Metra)


27th Street is a station on Metra's Electric District line. The station is the least used Metra station, and possibly one of the least used train stations in the midwestern US. 


History

Not much is known about the original history of the station, though it's assumed to have first been built sometime around the 1870s. On October 30th, 1972, the 1972 Chicago Rail Crash happened at this station, the worst crash in all of Chicago's history, with 45 deaths and 322 injuries. 

The station was originally made to serve Michael Reese Hospital, with the hospital having been directly connected to 27th Street station. Michael Reese Hospital went out of business in 2008, and was demolished. Chicago tried to build an Olympic Village at the site of the former hospital for the 2016 Olympic Games, but this failed. This is because of two important factors: staunch opposition from residents, and radioactive waste buried between the former hospital and the station, and a large scandal came of it when the radioactive waste was found.

The radioactive waste came from the 1920s, when radium was in high demand. At this site, radium would be separated from Carnotite sand imported from Utah. This sand would then have the radium separated before being buried here and thrown into local sewers and creeks. This was completely forgotten about until 2009, when the buried Carnotite sand was found. That area has been fenced off ever since. There were efforts to clean it that began in 2021, about 100 years after it was buried in that spot. 

In 2017, the footbridge over the Metra Electric tracks to the station was rebuilt. Currently, it needs to be rebuilt again. It was closed for 10 days in late June of this year to help re-facilitate redevelopment of the Michael Reese site. 

Tour

Train

27th Street is somehow a decently sized station despite everything about it being the way it is. 

Shelter room

Somehow, 27th Street actually has a depot. It's completely unmanned like many other Metra indoor shelters, and filthy. 

Bench in the depot

Small outdoor shelter

Standard TVM for tickets

The shelter and platform

The stairs

By the time you see this, these stairs will have been closed for a while and relocated to 26th Street, hopefully

View of the tracks

The footbridge

This thing is incredibly scary to use. 

Bike rack

Technically, this station is bike accessible, but would anyone actually park their bike here? 

The ground

You can be here, just don't eat anything on the ground. This is where all the radioactive waste is, just on the other side of the fence.

The path is completely beaten up from multiple years of not being maintained. It's a long one to get to much of anywhere. 

Gravel

After a certain point, the road stops being paved. 

Signage

Bus Connections

The closest thing this place has to a bus connection is the CTA route 3 bus. This bus mainly goes along Martin Luther King Drive in the South Side of Chicago. The problem is, the 3 bus can be accessed from multiple other stations along the Metra Electric line, like McCormick Place and Van Buren Street. 

This is almost half a mile of walking, by the way.

Points of Interest near 27th Street station

Nothing. I mean it. There are some residential towers, but that's about it. This station is in the Douglas neighborhood, which has a lot of cool stores and restaurants, but all of that is very far away from the station itself. Even the apartments are not very close to the station.

Statistics


Name: 27th Street
Agency: Metra
Line(s): Metra Electric District 
Locality: Douglas
Municipality: Chicago
County: Cook
State: Illinois
Ridership: 4 riders per average weekday (2019)

Amenity Checklist


Accessible: ×
Bathrooms: ×
Bicycle parking: ✓
Clean Station: ×
Connections to other transit routes: ×
Easy passage for each side: ×
Existence is justifiable: ×
Fare Payment Kiosks (if applicable): n/a
Good Wayfinding: ×
Indoor Shelters: ✓
Maps: ×
Multiple entrances/exits: ×
Adequate Parking: ✓
Safe to use: ×
Seating: ×
Shelters: ✓
Station In Good Condition: ×
TVMs: ✓
Ticket Offices: ×
TOD: ×
Train Departure/Arrival Info (countdown clocks): ×
Updated/Useful Signage: ×

Final Verdict: 0.25/10. This station is horrible. There's no way to beat around the bush here. This is possibly the second worst train station I have been to in my entire life. I am appalled.  


Station Directory

--------Cook County--------
''''''''Zone 1''''''''  
Millennium
Van Buren Street
Museum Campus/11th Street
''''''''Zone 2'''''''' 
18th Street
McCormick Place
27th Street
47th Street (Kenwood)
51st/53rd Street (Hyde Park)
55th-56th-57th Street
University of Chicago/59th Street
63rd Street

- - - - TRAINS TO SOUTH CHICAGO (93RD) BRANCH OFF HERE - - - -

75th Street (Grand Crossing)
79th Street (Chatham)
83rd Street (Avalon Park)
87th Street (Woodruff)
91st Street
95th Street-Chicago State University
103rd Street (Rosemoor)
107th Street
111th Street (Pullman)
Kensington 

- - - - TRAINS TO SOUTH BEND AND BLUE ISLAND BRANCH OFF HERE - - - -
 
Riverdale
Ivanhoe
147th Street (Sibley Boulevard)
Harvey
Hazel Crest
Calumet
''''''''Zone 3'''''''' 
Homewood
Flosswood
Olympia Fields
Matteson
Richeton Park
--------Will County-------- 
University Park 
 
South Chicago Branch
 
--------Cook County--------
''''''''Zone 2''''''''
Stony Island
Bryn Mawr
South Shore
Windsor Park
Cheltenham
83rd Street
87th Street
93rd Street (South Chicago)
 
Blue Island Branch
 
--------Cook County--------
''''''''Zone 2''''''''
State Street
Stewart Ridge
West Pullman
Racine Avenue
Ashland/Calumet Park
Burr Oak
Blue Island 
 
   
  

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