Midway Yard (Chicago)

Midway Yard stores and services the fleet of trains for the Orange Line, which runs from Midway Airport to The Loop. Additionally, trains stored at Midway Yard are used for some weekday peak hour services on the Brown Line, which operates from the space-constrained Kimball Yard.^[7] As of the November 2024 timetable^[update], eight Brown Line trips per day originate or terminate at Midway, changing their destination signs from Orange to Brown when entering the Loop.^[8] This service pattern is nicknamed the "Tiger Line," referencing the animal's orange-and-brown coat.^[9]

At its opening in 1993, Midway Yard stored the Orange Line's fleet of 102 newly-acquired 3200-series railcars.^[10] The 3200-series were designed for one-person train operation, making the Orange Line the second Chicago "L" line to open with one-person operation, after the Skokie Swift (today's Yellow Line).

The 3200-series cars in Midway Yard's fleet were refurbished in the mid-2010s at the Skokie Shops.^[11][12] In 2018, the Orange Line and Blue Line fleets were swapped, with the newly-refurbished 3200-series cars assigned to the Blue Line and the Blue Line's remaining 2600-series cars assigned to the Orange Line.^[13] The Orange Line's fleet of 2600-series cars will be replaced by the 7000-series or the future 9000-series cars.

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