Ho, Ho, Ho!
Santa’s taking a short vacation from the North Pole. His home for the next month? The CTA Holiday Train.
The Holiday Train comes equipped with lights, reindeer, garland, decorations, candy, and of course, Santa’s loyal team of elves. (The jolly old soul isn’t going to travel by himself ya know.)
Plus, the poles are wrapped to look like giant candy canes. You can see the creation from beginning to end in this video.
As you can see, Santa gets his own sleigh (an open-air flatcar that carries him and his reindeer). Because of this, you won’t get too many opportunities with Santa unless you attend one of the photo opportunities (see schedule below). Still, it’s a great experience for children. And for the same price as any regular train ride, it’s definitely worth checking out. The Holiday Train will take a ride along all of the city’s “L” lines between November and December.
Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule.
| 2015 Detailed Sprint CTA Holiday Train Schedule Click the dates below to see full details. (Detailed schedules are posted as they become available. Unlinked dates indicate a schedule for that date has not yet been published.) |
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| Red Line | 11/21 – Sat | |
| Green Line | 11/27 – Fri | |
 Green Line |
11/28 – Sat | |
| Green Line | 12/1 – Tue | |
| Orange Line & Brown Line | 12/2 – Wed | |
| Orange Line & Brown Line | 12/3 – Thu | |
| Orange Line & Brown Line | 12/4 – Fri | |
| Orange Line & Brown Line |
12/5 – Sat | |
| Pink Line | 12/8 – Tue | |
| Pink Line | 12/9 – Wed | |
| Blue Line | 12/10 – Thu | |
| Blue Line | 12/11 – Fri | |
| Blue Line (+ photo-only stop on Pink Line) |
12/12 – Sat | |
| Red Line | 12/15 – Tue | |
| Purple Line | 12/16 – Wed | |
| Red Line | 12/17 – Thu | |
| Purple Line | 12/18 – Fri | |
| Red Line & Purple Line |
12/19 – Sat | |
| Purple Line | 12/22 – Tue | |
| Yellow Line | 12/23 – Wed | |
*Schedule courtesy of the Chicago Transit Authority
The Holiday Train typically runs from 3 pm to 7 pm on weekdays and 1 pm to 8 pm on weekends. Exact schedules will be released as the dates near.
The new CTA Holiday Bus will also be making an appearance this year, as Ralphie the Reindeer and crew take the streets beginning December 2nd.