O'Hare is the 'L' station at the northwestern terminus of the CTA's Blue Line. It is a subway station with two island platforms serving three tracks, located at O'Hare International Airport, 17 miles (27 km) northwest of the Chicago Loop. The station is located underneath the O'Hare parking garage. Trains are scheduled to depart from O'Hare roughly every 2–7 minutes during rush-hour periods and take about 40 minutes to travel to the Loop. It is the westernmost station of the 'L' system. It is also the only CTA station without coordinates in Chicago's grid system, as O'Hare lines up with no street in the city. It is the only CTA terminal located in a subway and also is the only terminal where a premium fare applies and is the only terminal that does not directly connect to any CTA or Pace buses. It is also one of two terminals (the other being Dempster-Skokie on the Yellow Line) that does not have a yard assigned to it (the yard is located at Rosemont).HistoryO'Hare station opened on September 3, 1984, as the terminus of an extension of the West-Northwest route from its former terminal at River Road. It was built to a design by the architectural firm Murphy/Jahn.Introduction of premium fareFor the first 28 years of O'Hare station's operations, the fare passengers paid the same fare to enter it as they would at any other "L" station. The premium fare was imposed on O'Hare passengers in 2013; first (in January 2013), only passengers buying single-ride tickets had to pay the surcharge; by July of the same year, the surcharge was imposed on most other passengers (those using a Chicago Card or a Chicago Card Plus) as well.
