(officially the '''Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation''') is
Chicagoland 's
Commuter Rail system, serving over 200 stations on eleven lines across the
Regional Transportation Authority 's six-county service area (
Cook ,
DuPage ,
Kane ,
Lake ,
McHenry and
Will Counties).
The
Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) was formed in a March 1973
Referendum to provide financial support from local and county governments to railroads providing commuter service between
Chicago and its
Suburbs . Purchase of service contracts with all the railroads operating commuter service in the area were signed in 1976. In the wake of the 1980
Bankruptcy and
Liquidation of the
Chicago, Rock Island And Pacific Railroad , the RTA also inherited ownership and operational responsibilities of that railroad's commuter operations (known today as Metra's
Rock Island District ) in 1982. That same year it also leased the
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul And Pacific Railroad 's (Milwaukee Road) lines, now the
Milwaukee District/West Line and
Milwaukee District/North Line (it bought the lines in 1985).
The
RTA Amendatory Act Of 1983 created the current organization, with three management boards for the Chicago area's public transit - the
CTA for city
Rapid Transit and
Bus es,
Pace for suburban buses, and Metra for suburban rail. The Metra
Service Mark , short for Metropolitan Rail, was adopted in
1984 .
Metra has since acquired the operations of the
Metra Electric Line (
1987 ),
Heritage Corridor (also
1987 ) and
SouthWest Service (
1993 ). In
1996 it began operating the
North Central Service over a line of the
Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation , now part of the
Canadian National Railway . Commuter service had previously been operated on that line by the
Minneapolis, St. Paul And Sault Ste. Marie Railway , ending by
1971 .
Metra's other lines are still operated by the freight railroads that own the trackage. The
Union Pacific Railroad operates three ex-
Chicago And North Western Railway lines - the
Union Pacific/North Line ,
Union Pacific/Northwest Line and
Union Pacific/West Line . The other line, the
BNSF Railway Line , is operated by the
BNSF Railway .
Commuter service in Chicagoland is also provided by the
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District 's
South Shore Line to
South Bend, Indiana , one of only a few remaining
Interurban Streetcar lines in the U.S. After
1971 , one other service was provided into Indiana,
Amtrak 's ''
Calumet '' to
Valparaiso ; Amtrak ended that train in
1991 . Amtrak still provides
Intercity Service to Chicago, including frequent ''
Hiawatha '' service to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin , used by some commuters to Chicago.
Until the
1960s , Chicago had six major
Intercity Terminal s. Three of them -
Central Station ,
Dearborn Station and
Grand Central Station - are no longer in use by any trains. Metra still uses the other three -
LaSalle Street Station ,
Union Station and the
Ogilvie Transportation Center - as well as the
Randolph Street Station , a terminal for commuter lines that operated through Central Station.
" on track 8 in
Ogilvie Transportation Center ,
January 2 ,
2006 .]]
Union Station serves all
Amtrak Intercity Train s to Chicago. It also serves Metra trains on several lines that operated into Union Station from before the
1960s :
Since the
1960s , several other routes have been rerouted into Union Station:
The
Ogilvie Transportation Center , originally the
Chicago And North Western Terminal , serves the three lines formerly operated by the
Chicago And North Western Railway - the
Union Pacific/North Line ,
Union Pacific/Northwest Line and
Union Pacific/West Line .
LaSalle Street Station serves only trains of the
Rock Island District , originally operated by the
Chicago, Rock Island And Pacific Railroad .
Randolph Street Station serves the ex-
Illinois Central Railroad Metra Electric Line , as well as the
South Shore Line Interurban Streetcar service to
South Bend, Indiana , operated by the
Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District .
Despite the through La Fox to
Elburn , and the SouthWest Service line has been extended from
Orland Park to
Manhattan . Metra also plans to extend the
McHenry branch of the Union Pacific/Northwest into
Johnsburg . There are also plans for an extension of the Milwaukee District Line-West from Elgin/Big Timber to
Huntley and eventually all the way to
Rockford .
Metra also plans to offer new service as well. It recently announced its intention to create a new
SouthEast Service line from downtown Chicago to
Crete , as well as Metra's first entirely intra-suburban commuter line, the
Suburban Transit Access Route , or "STAR" Line, which would operate between
Joliet and
O'Hare Airport , linking together Metra lines in the western suburbs. Preliminary Engineering has also begun in expanding Metra further north from
Kenosha to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin .
Metra, as all passenger rail, has a reputation for being a safe and reliable mode of transportation. There have been several accidents in the past that have caught regional, and sometimes national, attention:
- On the morning of October 25 , 1995 , A Metra Train Hit A School Bus which was stopped along the tracks at the stoplight at Algonquin Rd. and Northwest Highway in Fox River Grove . The accident resulted in 7 deaths, multiple injuries, and a massive overhaul in safety, especially with respect to school buses and at short crossings. Millions of dollars was spent by several parties in lawsuits and safety improvements.
- On September 17 , 2005 , a Metra train from Joliet to Chicago derailed about 5 miles from Chicago, killing two people - Allison Walsh, 38 and Jane Cuthbert, 22 - and injuring approximately 80 others. While the investigation is still proceeding at this time the indications are that the train was traveling at excessive speed, one report stating that the train was moving at more than 60 mph over the posted speed limit of 10 mph, and this certainly a factor in the accident.
- On November 23 , 2005 , a Metra train from Chicago to Antioch, IL collided with multiple cars at the Grand Ave. crossing in Elmwood Park, Illinois . The railroad tracks cross Grand Ave. at a shallow angle, therefore creating a longer-than-normal crossing. Just past the tracks on Grand Ave. (heading east) there is a traffic signal that can trap drivers disregarding the signs around the crossing warning them not to stop on the tracks. No one died at the scene, but 15 people needed to be sent to hospitals throughout Chicago. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the signals were working properly and have implied in statements to the press that fault for the accident lies with motorists who disregarded signs and stopped across the railroad tracks.
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- J. David Ingles, Metra: "Best Commuter Train", '' Trains '' July 1993
