Metra

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Metra

Locale	Chicagoland
Transit type	Commuter rail
Began operation	1984
No. of lines	11
No. of stations	over 200
Track gauge	1435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) (standard gauge)
Reporting marks	METX, NIRC
Operator	Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)

Metra (officially the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation) is Chicagoland's commuter rail system, serving over 200 stations on 11 lines across the Regional Transportation Authority's six-county service area (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties) providing over 67 million rides annually.

Contents 1 History 2 Lines and stations 3 Extension Projects 4 Metra Accidents 5 Locomotive fleet 6 Coach fleet 7 Metra Electric Fleet 8 Awards and recognition 9 See also 10 External links 11 References

[edit] History

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) was formed after 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 (now Metra's Rock Island District) in 1982. The 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, buying them in 1985.

The RTA Amendatory Act of 1983 created the current organization, with three management boards for Chicago area public transit - the CTA for city rapid transit and buses, 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, the Heritage Corridor (both in 1987), and the Southwest Service (in 1993). In 1996 it began operating the North Central Service over the Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation, now part of the Canadian National Railway. Commuter service that had previously been operated on that line by the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway ended 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. From 1971 to 1991, Amtrak's Calumet provided commuter rail service to Valparaiso, and provides intercity service to Chicago, including frequent Hiawatha service to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, used by some commuters to Chicago.

[edit] Lines and stations

Chicagoland Commuter Rail Metra Lines
	Union Pacific/North Line
	North Central Service
	Milwaukee District/North Line
	Union Pacific/Northwest Line
	Milwaukee District/West Line
	Union Pacific/West Line
	BNSF Railway Line
	Heritage Corridor
	SouthWest Service
	Rock Island District
	Metra Electric Line
NICTD Service
	South Shore Line
edit this box

Until the 1960s, Chicago had six major intercity terminals. Three of them - Central Station, Dearborn Station and Grand Central Station - have closed. 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.

Union Station serves all Amtrak intercity trains. It also serves Metra trains on several lines that operated into Union Station from before the 1960s:

• Heritage Corridor (Alton Railroad)
• BNSF Railway Line (Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad)
• Milwaukee District/West Line and Milwaukee District/North Line (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad)
• The ex-Pennsylvania Railroad Calumet commuter service provided by Amtrak to Valparaiso, Indiana until 1991 also operated into Union Station.

Since the 1960s, other routes have been rerouted into Union Station:

• Southwest Service (Wabash Railway), moved from Dearborn Station in 1976 by the Norfolk and Western Railway
• North Central Service (Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway), began operations 1996, sharing trackage with the Milwaukee District/West Line south of Franklin Park

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.

Millennium Park Station (previously Randolph Street Station) serves the ex-Illinois Central Railroad Metra Electric Line, and the South Shore Line interurban streetcar service to South Bend, Indiana, operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District.

[edit] Extension Projects

Despite the State of Illinois's current budget crisis, Metra is implementing planning vigorous expansion in the coming years. Some of this expansion has already been realized: the Union Pacific/West line has been extended from Geneva, Illinois through La Fox to Elburn, and the Southwest Service line has been extended from Orland Park to Manhattan.[1] Metra is also in the process of extending the McHenry branch of the Union Pacific/Northwest into Johnsburg[2].

Metra is also planning to create new rail services as well, namely the SouthEast Service line from downtown Chicago to Crete[3], 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.[4]

[edit] Metra Accidents

Metra, as all passenger rail, has a reputation for being a safe and reliable mode of transportation. However, there have been several accidents in the past that have caught regional, and sometimes national, attention:

• At around 5:53 p.m. on August 26, 1991, Mary T. Wojtyla, 41, of Chicago, was walking across the tracks at the Fairview Avenue grade crossing in Downers Grove, directly in front of a westbound train which was stopped at the Metra station. As she proceeded to cross the center track, she was hit and killed instantly by a westbound Burlington Northern "Racetrack" express train, estimated to be traveling at 60 miles per hour. Quoting from the Chicago Tribune, "The accident delayed between 12,000 and 15,000 commuters for more than an hour..." Trains were further delayed when Downers Grove police ordered the engineer to back up the train in order to re-enact the incident. According to an account in the Downers Grove Reporter, "the engineer was so seriously affected by the re-enactment, where he had to pass by the dead body still on the tracks, he was unable to continue and had to be relieved of his duties". A railfan captured Wojtyla being stuck by the train and the video, dubbed "Traingirl", has been shown at many Operation Lifesaver events, and on shock site web sites. A wrongful death lawsuit brought by Wojtyla's estate was dismissed in 1996.

• 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 Road and Northwest Highway in Fox River Grove. The accident resulted in seven 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 five miles from LaSalle Street Station, 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 was a factor in the accident.

• On November 23, 2005, a Metra train from Chicago to Antioch, Illinois collided with multiple cars at the Grand Avenue crossing in Elmwood Park, Illinois. The railroad tracks cross Grand Avenue at a shallow angle, therefore creating a longer-than-normal crossing. Just past the tracks on Grand Avenue (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 ignored warning signs and stopped across the railroad tracks.

• On October 25, 2006, a Metra train traveling on the Union Pacific/Northwest Line struck and killed a 15-year old boy in Fox River Grove, Illinois. The accident occurred on the 11th anniversary of a 1995 accident at the same crossing that killed seven Cary-Grove High School students when a Metra train hit a school bus. Police continue to investigate the cause of the accident. [5]

[edit] Locomotive fleet

Numbers	Model	Year Bulit	Assigned
100-184	F40PH	1977-1986	All routes (except ME)
185-214	F40PHM-2	1991-1992	BNSF, RI
401-427	MP36PH-3	2003-2004	BNSF, RI, UP, Milwaukee
305, 308	F7	1949	Retired
514-516, 518, 521	E8	1951-1953	Retired
600-614	F40C	1974	Retired (Milwaukee)
1-2	SW1		RI
3	SW1200		Milwaukee
4-8	SW1500		RI, Milwaukee, ME

[edit] Coach fleet

Numbers	Type	Paint Scheme	Year Bulit	Builder
700 - 787	Coach	Stainless Steel	1950-1965	Budd
790 - 815	Coach/Cab	Stainless Steel	1965, 1973	Budd
816 - 820	Coach	Stainless Steel	1973	Budd
7100 - 7121	Coach	Stainless Steel	1977 - 1978	Budd
6001 - 6192	Coach	Stainless Steel	2002 - 2005	Nippon-Sharyo
7200 - 7382	Coach	Stainless Steel	1961 - 1980	Budd
7400 - 7497	Coach	Stainless Steel	1996 - 1998	Amerail
8200 - 8275	Coach/Cab	Stainless Steel	1961 - 1980	Budd
8400 - 8413	Coach/Cab	Stainless Steel	1994 - 1995	M-K
8414 - 8478	Coach/Cab	Stainless Steel	1995 - 1998	Amerail
8501 - 8608	Coach/Cab	Stainless Steel	2002 - 2005	Nippon-Sharyo
7650 - 7885	Coach	Flat Side/Painted	1956 - 1970	Pullman
7600 - 7613	Coach	Flat Side/Painted	1955	St. Louis
7900 - 7901	Club Car	Flat Side/Painted	1955	St. Louis
553, 555	Club Car	Flat Side/Painted	1949	ACF
8700 - 8763	Coach/Cab	Flat Side/Painted	1960 - 1968	Pullman

[edit] Metra Electric Fleet

Numbers	Type	Year Bulit	Builder
1201 - 1226	MU Coach	2005	Nippon-Sharyo
1501 - 1630	MU Coach	1971 - 1972	St. Louis
1631 - 1666	MU Coach	1978 - 1979	Bombardier

[edit] Awards and recognition

Metra has been honored with several E.H. Harriman Awards for employee safety, most recently with a Bronze award in class B (line-haul railroads with between 4 and 15 million employee hours per year) for 2005. Previous Harriman Awards conferred to Metra include Gold awards for 2003 and 2004 and a Silver award for 2002.^[1]

[edit] See also

• Mass transit in Chicago
• Pace (transit)
• Chicago Transit Authority

[edit] External links

• RAILChicago
• Metra
• Chicago Transit & Railfan Web Site
• MetxPix.com
• Railfanning.org: Metra
• Metra Schedule and Maps Site

[edit] References

edit Metra lines

BNSF Railway Line, Heritage Corridor, Metra Electric Line, Milwaukee District/North Line, Milwaukee District/West Line, North Central Service, Rock Island District, SouthEast Service, SouthWest Service, Union Pacific/North Line, Union Pacific/Northwest Line, Union Pacific/West Line