One out of three trips each day on the CTA is by train. Rail ridership is up 4.3 percent for the year through May, or 3.3 million more; and subway rides compared to the same five-month period in 2008. In May alone, rail ridership increased by 500,000 rides, or 2.7 percent, while bus ridership dipped 3.3 percent, a loss of 900,000 rides from May 2008.

The resurgence of mass transit is reflected in the growing trend of more people leaving their cars at home for commutes that aren’t going to work and back home. Trips using CTA trains on weekends and holidays shot up 9.2 percent last month compared to the same period a year ago. As every seasoned CTA rail customer knows, if you’ve seen one CTA train station, you’ve seen one CTA train station. The size of the station houses, the amenities, the state of repair and, of course, ridership levels, vary widely at the 144 stations served by eight rail lines.

CONSERVATORY

A gem that proves modern is not the only way to success. This historic Queen Anne-style station house, named for the Garfield Park Conservatory just steps away, opened in 2001 and looks as good or better than it did more than 100 years ago. The station and portions of the canopies were salvaged from the former Homan station, which was one of the original stops on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad that opened in 1893 when steam locomotives pulled the trains.

DIVISION

If dingy walls, dirt-encrusted floors and poor lighting aren’t bad enough, water pools on the tracks after it rains, turning debris thrown by passengers into a syrupy sludge.

FOSTER

Our candidate for the most-neglected station on the North Shore, this is surely a rail stop that time forgot. Peeling paint on the canopy flakes off onto the platform, and rust permeates the steel girders holding up the station.

HOWARD

Once a gigantic pigeon roost that also served transit customers, this terminal was revitalized over the past two years. The bright, airy design, with escalators, elevators and a new entrance near a commuter parking garage, represents what a major transportation center that serves three rail lines and numerous bus routes should be.

NORTH-CLYBORN

Picked by the CTA and the city for a complete overhaul whenever funding becomes available, the rehab of this State Street subway station cannot happen too soon. Until then, thorough cleanings are needed on a more regular basis to keep up with the stalactites and unidentifiable molds growing on the filthy subway ceiling and walls.