Substantial revisions to the lines that had been constructed by the Metropolitan had been planned since the 1930s; all told, they would replace the Logan Square branch with a subway to go directly downtown and substitute a rapid transit right of way in the median of the Congress Superhighway for the main line and Garfield Park branch.

This was largely complete by the 1958 opening of the Congress Line, which includes a station on Clinton Street near the site of Canal.

The Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad Company was granted a 50-year franchise by the Chicago City Council on April 7, 1892,[2] and began securing right of way shortly thereafter.

[a][4][5] Originally intending for its railroad to be powered by steam locomotives like the competing South Side and Lake Street Elevateds, the Metropolitan decided in May 1894 to use electric traction instead;[8] the tracks had already been largely constructed prior to the decision to electrify them, but retrofitting the third rail proved an easy task outside of the switches of the main line.

[9] The main line and Logan Square branch up to Robey[a] had their tracks completed by the middle of October 1894 and were given power in April 1895 for test and inspection runs.

[5] The Loop, an elevated rail trackage to be used as a common downtown terminal between all "L" companies, was planned as early as 1894[13] and opened on October 11, 1897.

The fire, which killed a firefighter, was such that trains were blocked from reaching the Canal station or points beyond for the next several days due to the warping of the tracks.

[1] The Aurora Elgin and Chicago Railway (AE&C) was an interurban that had been in service since August 25, 1902, and using the Metropolitan's Garfield Park branch, main line, and Wells Street Terminal since March 11, 1905.

[28] Three different agreements were made between the CTA, Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois between 1951 and 1954 concerning the financing and ownership of the new construction, which soon commenced.

[28] A separate but related project, the Milwaukee–Dearborn subway, opened on February 25, 1951, rerouting Logan Square and Humboldt Park trains from Canal.

[30] More changes came in September 1953; the Garfield Park "L" trackage was replaced by temporary street-level ("at-grade") tracks between Sacramento Boulevard and Aberdeen Street, essentially removing all stops between Kedzie on the branch and Halsted on the main line.

[31] The CA&E, having long struggled financially, refused to use the at-grade tracks due to safety concerns as well as the prospect of delays caused by the use of traffic signals at road crossings, and had serious doubts about its ability to reroute its right of way into the new expressway median.

[33] Douglas Park trains stopped using the main line in favor of the Paulina Connector to get downtown on April 4, 1954.

On October 11, 1955, this structure, including the Franklin/Van Buren station, was in turn closed as trains instead used the northern two tracks through the former Wells Street Terminal to directly join the Loop.

[37] This arrangement continued, with the southern tracks sitting abandoned, until Garfield Park service ended altogether on June 22, 1958.

The circuitousness of this route led to its being dubbed the "frustration walk"[1] for commuters, although it was considered one of the few good areas for railfans to see trains at Union Station at the time.

[46] In the last year of the three-branch model, 1950, Canal served 2,089,044 riders, making it the 14th-busiest of 123 "L" stations and the busiest in the former Metropolitan division.

[47] In the final full year of its operation, 1957, Canal served 1,203,404 passengers, making it the 23rd-busiest of 133 "L" stations and the busiest in the former Metropolitan division outside of the new Dearborn subway.