The first step is to get downtown. The easiest way to do this is to take the El line. From O'Hare, take the blue line El from O'Hare to the Clinton stop. From Midway, take the orange line El to the Quincy/Wells stop. Depending upon the time one arrives, one has the option of Greyhound or Amtrak. Both are about 2-5 blocks from either El station.

To get to Union Station from the blue line El stop (Clinton), walk north on Clinton St. ~2 blocks. To get to the Greyhound station, walk one block south on Clinton St. to Harrison, then two blocks west.

To get to Union Station from the orange line El stop (Quincy/Wells), walk south to Jackson (1 block), then west on Jackson two blocks (crossing river) to Union Station. To get to the Greyhound station, follow the directions to Union station, then continue another block west, turn south on Clinton, go one block, then turn west on Harrison for two blocks.

On Amtrak, from Union Station, there are two trains each day going to Champaign with the following schedules:

Illini	dpt Chicago 4:00PM	arr Champaign 6:25PM
City of New Orleans	dpt Chicago 8:00PM	arr Champaign 10:37PM

On Greyhound

dpt Chicago	arr Champaign
03:00AM	05:20AM
06:00AM	09:05AM
11:00AM	02:05PM
02:30AM	05:10PM
01:45PM	05:25PM
06:30PM	10:20PM

To return on Amtrak, there are two trains each day.

City of New Orleans	dpt Champaign 6:33PM	arr Chicago 9:35PM
Illini	dpt Champaign 6:55PM	arr Chicago 9:35PM

Warning. The City of New Orleans northbound can be up to two hours late getting in to Chicago. I recommend either taking this into account, taking Greyhound, or for the adventurous, contacting me for Joel's secret way.

To return on Greyhound

dpt Champaign	arr Chicago
03:10AM	05:40AM
09:05AM	12:45AM
11:55AM	04:00PM
02:45AM	05:15PM
06:00PM	09:00PM
09:50PM	12:45PM (next day)

The Blue Line trip takes 45 minutes.

To make reservations on Amtrak, call 1-800-USA-RAIL

To make reservations on Greyhound, call (800) 231-2222.

This information is current as of 8 September 1998.

Joel Jones
jjones@uiuc.edu