Metra Electric District

Service

The Electric District has more frequent service than any other Metra line. , Metra operates 131 trains (64 inbound and 67 outbound) on the line on weekdays. On the main line, 27 inbound trains originate from , four from , and three from , while three outbound trains terminate at Kensington/115th Street, four at Homewood, and the remaining 26 at University Park. There are also 20 inbound and 22 outbound trains (42 total) on the branch, as well as ten inbound and 12 outbound (22 total) trains on the branch (one outbound train to Blue Island, No. 245, originates from Kensington/115th Street, not ).

On Saturdays, Metra operates 41 roundtrip trains on the line, including 21 on the main line to University Park, 16 trains on the South Chicago branch, and four on the Blue Island branch.

On Sunday and holidays, Metra operates 22 trains on the line, with 12 roundtrips operating on the main line to University Park and 10 trains operating on the South Chicago branch. Service on the Blue Island branch is suspended during these times.

The trunk stretch of the line shared between all branches from Millennium Station to is the most heavily traveled section on the entire Metra system. At , passengers may transfer between main line and South Chicago/Blue Island branch services, as well as to South Shore Line service to Indiana.

The Metra Electric District has the best on-time performance of all Metra lines, averaging only one late train a month in 2014.

Trains operate at a maximum speed of 65 mph; as of February 2024, work is underway to increase the maximum speed to 79 mph, with an increase to 90 mph in certain sections potentially following.

History

Steam era

The line was built by the Illinois Central Railroad, one of the first commuter services outside the major metropolitan areas of the northeastern United States. It opened on July 21, 1856 between the IC's then-downtown station, Great Central Station, (now Millennium Station) and Hyde Park. Part of the line was elevated for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Jackson Park.

The line predates the 1871 Great Chicago Fire, and ran on a trestle just offshore in Lake Michigan. After the fire, remains of buildings destroyed by the fire were dumped into the lake, creating landfill that forms the foundation of Grant Park, which the Metra Electric District runs through.

Two branches were added: from Brookdale southeast to South Chicago in the early 1880s, and from Kensington southwest to Blue Island in the early 1890s, both later electrified along with the main line.

When the IC moved its intercity operations to Central Station in 1893, it built Randolph Street Terminal on the former site of Great Central to handle its growing commuter operations.

Electric IC era

By the early 20th century the IC operated up to 300 steam-hauled trains each day. In 1919, the IC and the Chicago city government collaborated on a grade separation project from the far south suburb of Homewood into the city. They also dug a trench from the near south side into the city proper, eliminating all grade crossings on the main line except one just south of the Richton Park station. The University Park extension required the line to cross a very long private driveway. The South Chicago branch runs at grade, crossing many city streets.

The grade crossing elimination project was followed by electrification. The IC electrified the commuter tracks in 1926, from downtown to Matteson. In addition to the removal of all grade crossings, the tracks were separated from, and moved to the west side of, the two freight and inter-city tracks. At McCormick Place just south of downtown Chicago, the two non-electrified tracks to Central Station crossed over the new electric alignment. The electric tracks continued north to Randolph Street Terminal.

Service was extended 1.1 mi southward from Matteson to Richton Park, a new station at the south end of the coach storage yard, in 1946. The main line had six tracks between Roosevelt Road (Central Station) and 53rd Street (reduced to four in 1962), four to 111th Street, then two. The South Chicago branch is double tracked, and the Blue Island branch has a single track with a passing siding at West Pullman.

The "IC Electric" was once Chicago's busiest suburban railroad, and carried a great deal of traffic within the city as well as to suburban communities. The three lines carried 26 million passengers in 1927, the first full year of electrified operation. Ridership rose to 35 million in 1929, and reached an all-time peak of 47 million in 1946, when 128,000 passengers boarded each day. Between 1935 and 1949, the South Chicago branch was served by trains every 10 minutes all-day.

Faced with declining ridership as urban transportation patterns changed, the Illinois Central attempted to modernize the IC Electric system from 1966, implementing an automatic ticketing scheme called Automated Revenue Collection System (ARCS), which comprised a system of faregates and magnetic cards scanned by passengers when entering and exiting stations. This was intended to enable the reduction of train crews from three - engineer, conductor, and ticket collector - to just two, eliminating the position of the ticket collector. However, labour dispute arbitration and a 1969 strike forestalled these plans.

By 1960, ridership on the IC Electric had fallen to less than 54,000 daily, the line was a loss-maker most years, and ridership was overwhelmingly concentrated in commuting peak hours. The system's rolling stock still dated to the original 1920s electrification but funds were not available for their replacement. The system's position degraded severely from 1969, when the Dan Ryan branch of the Chicago "L" opened. That line, subsidised and publicly operated, in contrast to the unsubsidised IC Electric, operated with cost-effective one-person crews, and attracted customers with lower fares, better off-peak service, and integration with the city bus network. In response to declining ridership, the Illinois Central began to raise fares, starting from a price very similar to that of the "L" but rising to 1973 to a price 40% greater.

In 1972 the IC Electric, with assistance of public funding from the Chicago South Suburban Mass Transit District, procured new rolling stock in the Highliner railcars. Although highly modern compared to the railway's existing fleet, they had fewer doors than the old coaches, and also featured the interior layout of the gallery cars designed to facilitate fare collection despite the use of automated faregates, a design optimized for long-haul suburban service but ill-suited to the line's former role as urban rapid transit. This mirrored progressive declines in service; through 1949, the South Chicago Branch had 10-minute headways, but this service had fallen to 30-minute frequency patterns by 1974. Frequency, however, increased on the mainline and the Blue Island Branch from every 40 minutes to every 30 minutes, reflecting a shift from urban to suburban service.

1972 collision

The Illinois Central Gulf commuter rail crash, the worst rail accident in Chicago history, occurred on October 30, 1972. A commuter train made up of new lightweight bi-level Highliner cars, inbound to Randolph Street Station during the morning rush hour, overshot the 27th Street platform and backed up into the station. The bi-level train had already tripped the signals to green for the next train, an older, heavy steel single-level express train. As the bi-level train was backing up at 11 mph, it was struck by the single-level train at full speed. The single-level train telescoped the bi-level train, killing 45 passengers and injuring hundreds more, primarily in the bi-level train. A major contributing factor was that Illinois Central Gulf used a dark gray color scheme on the front ends of the Highliner fleet, which was very difficult to see on the cloudy morning of the accident. After the accident the ends of all of the ICG 1926 heavyweight still in use and Highliner MU fleet were partially painted with bright orange added for additional visibility.

RTA era

In 1976 the Regional Transportation Authority signed a contract with Illinois Central Gulf to fund its commuter service. The next year an extension of 2.3 mi was built to the current terminal at University Park (originally named Park Forest South). On May 1, 1987 Metra bought the line and its branches for $28 million ($ adjusted for inflation). The line is now operated by Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Rail Corporation, Metra's operating subsidiary. Two inter-city freight tracks retained by the ICG are now part of the Canadian National Railway, used by Amtrak's City of New Orleans, Illini and Saluki trains.

From 1988 onward, Randolph Street Terminal was under near-perpetual construction. The construction of Millennium Park moved the station completely underground, and in 2005 it was renamed Millennium Station.

The Metra Electric is the only line on the Metra system in which all stations (except 18th and 47th Streets, both flag stops) have ticket vending machines. The machines originally sold magnetically encoded tickets which unlocked the turnstiles. People with paper tickets or weekend passes, on reduced fares or who had trouble with the vending machines had to use a blue or orange pal phone to contact an operator who would unlock the turnstiles. Complaints from passengers who missed their trains caused Metra to remove the turnstiles in November 2003.

The main line and South Chicago branch run daily, but the Blue Island Branch does not operate on Sundays or holidays. A unique feature of the Metra Electric schedule is the similarity of the weekday and Saturday timetables. Many express trains run throughout the day in both directions. On other Metra lines, express service operates exclusively during the morning and afternoon rush hours. It is the only Metra line where all trackage is used exclusively for commuter service. Freight trains and Amtrak trains run on a pair of adjacent tracks owned by the Canadian National Railroad.

Off-peak and Saturday service is frequent, while Sunday service operates hourly north of 63rd Street and every 2 hours south of 63rd.

On January 4, 2021, fares on the Metra Electric line, along with the Rock Island line, were cut in half for all passengers.

Since July 2024, a fourth track is being constructed from Museum Campus to Millennium stations to accommodate increased services on the South Shore Line.

Potential expansion or service alterations

Gold Line and Gray Line proposals

The proposed Gold Line, derived from the earlier and more extensive Gray Line plan would have the Electric District operate more like a rapid transit line, by running trains more frequently (every ten minutes between 6am and midnight) with reduced-fare transfers to CTA buses and trains. Unlike the current service, which bypasses many stations to reach suburban stations more quickly, it would make all stops within the city. It would run from Millennium Station to South Chicago (93rd Street) at an estimated cost at $160 million. Since the Gold Line was proposed, the idea of providing rapid transit service along Chicago's south lakefront has gained considerable support from neighborhoods along its route. Despite its popular support, officials from CTA and Metra have largely dismissed the plan, focusing on other expansion projects. In response to this and other concerns, in 2009 the RTA and the Chicago Department of Transportation authorized $450,000 for a "South Lakefront Study" that is anticipated to yield either one or two new transit projects that are eligible for Federal transit funding. The study was completed in November 2012, and is now available on the City of Chicago's website.

Peotone/ Kankakee extension

An extension to Peotone, Illinois, the Proposed Chicago south suburban airport, or even Kankakee, with a stop in Monee has been considered since the SouthWest Service was extended to Manhattan.

2017 service expansion

On May 24, 2017, Metra announced new schedule proposals for the line. The new schedule will provide rapid service for the Hyde Park stations every 20 minutes on weekdays until 7 p.m. and every half-hour on Saturdays. The proposed schedule also calls for boosting service on the main line from 63rd Street to Kensington, from every two hours to every hour. However, the proposed schedule also calls for the elimination of lightly used Blue Island trains, including all Saturday service.

After reviewing community feedback, Metra decided to keep four Saturday Blue Island trains and one late night trip to South Chicago. The new service went into effect September 11, 2017.

Ridership

Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined 23% from 9.4 million to 7.3 million passengers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 2,019,403 passengers in 2020 and to 1,836,723 in 2021.

Rolling stock

The Metra Electric District uses second-generation bi-level Highliner multiple unit cars built by Nippon Sharyo. These will be supplemented by additional EMUs built at Nippon Sharyo's new Rochelle, Illinois facility opened in 2012. In 2005, these began to replace the original Highliner fleet built by St. Louis Car Company and Bombardier in the 1970s.

On February 12, 2016, the original Highliners left on their last run in revenue service. Metra confirmed in a Facebook post that twenty-four cars are being sent to museums around the Midwestern United States, including the Illinois Railway Museum, while an unconfirmed source stated that some cars were sent to Mendota, Illinois to be scrapped.

Stations

Main branch

South Chicago branch

The branch leaves the mainline south of the former 67th Street station.

Blue Island branch

The branch leaves the main line south of .

Footnotes

References

References

1. "Operations and Ridership Data". Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority.
2. (2014). "COMMUTER RAIL RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL – 2014". Metra.
3. (June 2009). "Did you know?". On the Bi-Level.
4. (26 February 2015). "The best and worst of Metra's on-time performance".
5. Lassen, David. (28 February 2024). "Metra project underway to increase speeds on Electric District". [[Trains (magazine).
6. (August 10, 1926). "Scores of Southtowners Ride I.C.'s First Electric Train". Suburbanite Economist.
7. Johnston, Sandy. (2016-05-01). "Must (Only) The Rich Have Their Trains?".
8. "Fair Transit South Cook {{!}} CookCountyIL.gov".
9. (2021-01-29). "Cook County's Pilot Program Aims To Boost Metra Electric, Rock Island Ridership By Slashing Fares In Half".
10. (19 March 2025). "Metra Outlines 2025 Construction Program". Railway Track and Structures.
11. (8 July 2024). "Construction to impact Metra Electric Line midday and weekend service July 13-21". The Chicago Crusader.
12. (October 11, 2007). "The Gold Line Proposal". Hyde park Urbanist.
13. Freemark, Yonah. (July 6, 2009). "Chicago Transit Advocates Encourage Rapid Transit Conversion of Metra Line". The Transport Politic.
14. "RTA Releases List of 19 Proposed Transit Projects Throughout the Region for Public Comment". Regional Transportation Authority.
15. (November 2012). "South Lakefront Corridor Transit Study".
16. (18 April 1999). "Metra Wish List Grows With 3 Ambitious Lines". [[Chicago Tribune]].
17. (8 February 2005). "Metra line extension proposed to Peotone airport". [[Chicago Tribune]].
18. "Systemwide Cost Benefit Analysis of Major Capital Improvements".
19. "Metra proposes revised Metra Electric schedule | Metra".
20. "Final Metra Electric Line schedule revision released | Metra".
21. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2021". Metra.
22. "RTAMS {{!}} Regional Transportation Authority Mapping and Statistics".
23. [http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/Bi_Level/OTBLJan2011..pdf New Highliners will roll out of the factory] {{webarchive. link. (2012-09-07 , Metra - On the Bi-Level, Commuter Newsletter, January 2011)
24. "Metra - Metra Train #117 operates past the 18th St station".
25. (February 2018). "Ridership Trends - Annual Report 2017". Metra Division of Strategic Capital Planning.