Western Avenue station

Western Avenue is the name of a railroad station owned by Metra, located in the West Town community area of Chicago, Illinois near Western Avenue. The station is 2.9mi away from Union Station, the inbound terminus of the line. Western Avenue station serves the Milwaukee District/West, North Central Service and Milwaukee District/North lines, and is the last inbound stop for these three lines before the terminus at Union Station. Although it is not a station stop, Amtrak trains also pass through here. The station was previously used by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Located near the station are the California Coach Yard, and the Western Avenue Rail Yard. The two nearby rail yards are host to Metra's final EMD F40Cs. Just southeast of the station platforms is a diamond where the Milwaukee Road Metra routes cross the tracks of the Union Pacific/West Line to Ogilvie Transportation Center, then turn to run parallel to them. This goes on for about a mile before they split, as the West Line tracks continue to Ogilvie. The junction is controlled by the nearby A-2 tower.