DeKalb extension is one of those things that's so obvious it's amazing it hasn't happened yet. I think aside from the obvious the thing the Heritage Corridor suffers from the most is lack of stations, it goes through all these cool places the closer to the city it gets yet the first stop westward is Summit. Personally I'd really dig a Chinatown station. It may be a bit outside Metra's purview but since they're expanding to Rockford I think it still fits, I'd like to see the Rock extended to LaSalle, I've gone through there a few times but didn't have time to stop, but it seems like it has good vibes so being able to take a train there to explore the place would be sick. Extend both UP and MILW north to Milwaukee with the UP-N making more local stops and the MILW-N making limited stops and have Amtrak run full express. EXTEND TO KANKAKEE AND RUN SECOND HAND ACELAS WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY.
If you were to extend a line to Milwaukee, it would be the UP North Line. The thing is you would have to build more stations, and on top of it you would have to expand Milwaukee's Union Station. You would also have to invest in new equipment like new locomotives and railcars. A lot of Metra's equipment is old, and would require more maintenance than usual
@@JohnAckerman93 They should do all that anyways and they should also move the terminal for the ferry to Michigan to the river alongside the Amtrak station in Milwaukee.
Haha, I love the idea of taking Metra from Chicago to Milwaukee. That trip would take probably 2 or 3 hours more than Amtrak does already which is some serious Miles In Transit vibes
Metra would have to use their new Alstom cars for that service and run a few express trains with only a few stops in between - that could indeed replace the Hiawatha and it would also allow Amtrak to use their equipment and crews on longer routes that travel a lot farther away from Chicago
It'd be great for the northern suburbs -- Waukegan and Kenosha are the two highest population communities along the line (outside of Chicago proper), and they also happen to be two of the furthest out from the city, so getting to the Hiawatha line isn't the most convenient. The fastest way to get to Milwaukee is via a coach from Kenosha, so there'd be value in an extension if it can improve on the speed and frequency of that bus (which shouldn't be a tall order).
Yeah, if METRA saw itself as serving the larger Chicago-Milwaukee metro area then an extension to Chicago to connect the southern burbs of Milwaukee to Milwaukee (as well as the rest of Chicagoland to Milwaukee) would be a game changer. It’s akin to how I see GO Transit’s role having evolved in Toronto. It has shifted from a strictly Toronto centred rush hour commuter service to providing all day regional service to both Toronto and Hamilton (and other major cities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe).
There’s no proposal for it, but the extension to Rockford ABSOLUTELY MUST stop in Union, ideally at a station right next to the Railway Museum. It could bring IRM record crowds, not to mention give easy access to it from people in the city who don’t own cars. It’s a win win for rail fans, both in the historical sense and the modern sense. And for the public in general. Also yes to the BNSF extension with a branch going to Sugar Grove, yes to the UP-W to Dekalb, yes to Lake Geneva, hard yes to Milwaukee.
The UPNW could probably be extended to Janesville or even eventually Madison. It would be a much more direct route than sending Madison trains through Milwaukee.
Metra is of course already extending the Milwaukee West to Rockford. The project will cost $275 million, and will be completed sometime in 2027. There will be service to and from Rockford seven days a week, with three inbound trains, and three outbound trains
Or they purchase every EMD Built F40PH, F59 and SD70 as well as some MP36PH/MP40PHs from Other Commuter Railroad and some MPI Built F40PHs while we're at it, hell they could get some AEM-7s for the Main Line Electric District as well getting some Silverliner 5s for the South Chicago branch and some Silverliner 4s and Arrows 3s for the South Shore and as for Passenger Cars purchasing all of Caltrain's Gallery Cars as well as some of VRE's and plus some single level cars from MARC and CT Rail which were built by Nippon Shariyo and Mafersa repectively, basically a Foamer's Dream
The Lake Geneva line used to exist until around 1975, with active Chicago North Western service to Williams Bay, Wisconsin, ending on the shoreline of Lake Geneva. Most of the right of way is intact, whereas most of it has not been built on. There are still remnants of the right of way, and you can see where the track used to be. I have personally traced out this line in detail and can even tell you exactly where the track came through and where it came to a dead end on the shoreline of Lake Geneva. (I even traced out the entire right of way of the former Chicago and North Western KD line, which crossed the Lake Geneva line at a diamond (And tower) just north of Richmond in Genoa City, Wisconsin, just north of the state line. (There is an abandoned steel bridge from the KD Line that is still hidden in Genoa, in fact.) It's too bad that passenger service ended in Lake Geneva when Metra took over the service from the North Western. Lake Geneva remains one of Illinois tourists' most popular destinations today. The town is littered with Illinois license plates and often has more people from Illinois in the downtown area than people from Wisconsin. On the south side of Lake Geneva, there is a caboose hotel area with several cabooses permanently parked on the former right-of-way. The track used to come into downtown Lake Geneva, crossing Hwy 50 where the Burger King is today. You can still see how some buildings in downtown Lake Geneva are at an odd angle due to the positioning of where the track ran alongside them. Awesome video, by the way. It would be cool to take a Metra right past the Illinois Railroad Museum in Union as well on the way to Rockford.
As someone who lives along the UP-N corridor, I would love to see it extend to Milwaukee and Racine! It would be such a great alternative to the Hiawatha, as there arent any stops for that nearby to me.
They could upgrade Gary/Chicago instead of building a south suburban airport. Also South Bend airport serves Chicago directly by rail although I’d move the south shore terminal back downtown if I could.
There was a study that was conducted by the city of DeKalb, and the study concluded that an extension of the UP West to DeKalb would work. There were about 10,000 people each week riding the line to and from DeKalb and NIU
I say bring back the initially proposed Southeast Service from a decade+ ago! That and extend into Northwest Indiana where the South Shore doesn't serve. There are populated areas in Lake and Porter County with no commuter rail nor easy expressway access such as Merillville, Crown Point, and the South Side of Valparaiso.
I think there should be more infill stations on the Southwest Service, rather than an extension. I propose adding a station at Route 30 in New Lenox, to provide a transfer to the Rock Island District. I think there should also be another station in Orland Park: Alpine. That would benefit more residents in Orland Park an fill a 3.5 mile gap between 153rd and 179th street stations. Further north, I would like to see a station at Oak Lawn, since it is a decently sized suburb with no passenger rail service. This would greatly benefit residents in the area as well as a large commercial area, as long as the station is built on Route 20. Within the Chicago city limits, I would recommend bringing back the two stations at Western Avenue and Halsted Street, as well as an infill station at Englewood/63rd, providing a potential connection to the Green Line. Lastly, I would recommend adding a infill station at 35th Street, providing a connection to both the Red Line and the Rock Island District.
Great collection of proposals! No matter how pessimistic a government/agency is or how long/expensive a study may be, never give up for the extension/introduction of any passenger rail proposal, since even the smallest improvements will bring forth much needed good for the surrounding regions, as you should constantly be fighting for the best possible service to these regions. Always follow the golden rule: more train good.
I always try to strike a balance between optimistic and realistic in my proposals - sure it’s fun to think of wild proposals and extensions (and they’re always fun to see!) But I personally like to think of things that I think would be feasible in my lifetime
The north branch on the MD-N would be a huge benefit for the city of Gurnee so people can get to Six Flags Great America easily instead of using the UP-N which is more longer
There was talk a while back about adding a station in Gurnee. It would make sense since it's a good size village, and on top of it you have Great America there too
This might be a bit of a stretch, but I would like to see: 1. BNSF be further extended to Mendota 2. UP-W out to Rochelle with anothee stop in Malta 3. RI to LaSalle-Peru 4. MD-W to Byron 5. UP-NW to Janesville And maybe add a new line called the CN Line (and labeled black in honor of the ICRR), running from CUS to Genoa via South Elgin and Addison Whew!
Rockford is further from Chicago than Milwaukee, and further from Elgin than Kenosha is from Milwaukee, and the CN&W used to offer service to Milwaukee, so given the current planned Rockford extension/service, Metra service to Milwaukee wouldn't actually be as crazy as it sounds
I could see a short extension of the Southwest Service...about a mile or so...to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, where there would be access to trailheads on the property, especially if Metra were to equip those trains with bike transport cars. It appears as if the old Wabash right-of-way could be reclaimed for the rails to be laid. The only drawback is that Midewin's visitors' center is on the west side of the property, whereas a SW Service extension would run along the east side. An extension of the Heritage Corridor or the Rock Island(once Lincoln Service trains use the Rock between Chicago and Joliet) could provide a stop a very short distance from the visitors' center. A stop near Midewin could become even more vital if transportation between the stop and nearby Lincoln National Veterans' Cemetery were made available. The cemetery already has a fleet of minibuses which shuttle visitors throughout the grounds. Dedicating a few to get Metra passengers onto the property could prove extremely popular with those who wish to visit the graves of loved ones but have no way of getting to the cemetery, which will eventually hold as many as 400,000 graves.
UPN should re-extend 🔙 to Milwaukee, UPNW should be re-extended 🔙 to Evansville & Williams Bay Wisconsin, & MDN should be re-extended 🔙 to Walworth Wisconsin
Maybe Extend the Milwaukee District North back to it's original terminus in Walworth Wisconsin, a Milwaukee District West Branch to Hampshire, a Union Pacific North Branch to Waukegan using the CNW/NSL Skokie Valley line and another branch to Union Station using the Union Pacific Chicago Tribune Subdivison, as well as 3 new lines, The SouthEast Service, The NorthWest Service and The Valparaiso Commuter Line.
They’ve been talking about the BNSF extension to Kendall County for the last 30+ years. While I’m not getting my hopes up I really want it to happen, especially now for two reasons. In Oswego right next to where the station is going to go, some rich business guy is about to build a Cricket Stadium that could potentially grow to seat 24k people, and naturally the locals are being NIMBY’s about it largely because the potential for heavy traffic. Second and in my opinion more immediate of an issue. In Yorkville, just one mile down the road from where the station would be is Raging Waves Water Park, the largest water park in the state. You could both run shuttle buses and put in a bike trail along Route 47 between the water park and the train station.
Looking at the transit map of Chicago - as an outsider (from Toronto) - both METRA + CTA - what seems to really be needed is a new METRA line that connects the regions - an “outer loop” or something like that. I know that there were some plans to build some sort of rail at one point on the Cicero corridor - not sure where it could go now - may need some subway portions, but that’s allowable even for heavy frequency (electrified) regional rail. Other routes, or a CTA project (Pink Line extension) could be done. Either way - you guys really need a circumferential line - if a line breaks down and you’re on it - you have no option to just transfer trains or people via other tracks. It builds in redundancy and just connects your city in an exponential number of ways it isn’t already. Don’t get me wrong - Toronto is not doing great at this. It’s arguably worse. But Chicago has such an amazing urban and commuter network but it’s 100% radial - I don’t know if there is a bigger network in the world without any radial lines at all.
I would love to see the McHenry branch extended to Lake Geneva. However Wisconsin would have to chip in and I am not sure if they want to do that. Until 1975 Lake Geneva did have passenger rail service to Chicago.
Pah, no ambition! The Metra extension we need is the Trans-Lake Express, with direct service to Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. And because it's Metra, it'll terminate at a park & ride in Springport with no pedestrian access.
No no, that's what I meant, because I was being silly. Right over the Lake on the 60 Mile Bridge! Less than an hour ride from Union Station to Benton Harbor. But using Metra gallery cars, because Metra. Though really, regional service between western Michigan and northern Indiana and Chicago would be so great.@@karatransitfur
Actually, a Metra UP-N extension to Milwaukee would be very beneficial and makes a lot of sense. It could easily supplement Amtrak service and give people more options to travel between the two cities. Stops could easily be added at Racine, Oak Creek, and South Milwaukee before terminating at Milwaukee intermodal. There has been a plan in the past to build a commuter line between Milwaukee intermodal and Kenosha where you could transfer to Metra, but it’s since been scrapped
I've toyed with the same crayoning concept for my home Regional Rail agency. The result is the T sprawling to every state in New England which is insane
I’m pretty sure that extension past Aurora is going to be a separate branch though, as the Aurora station splits off from the mainline and ends right in the downtown area, while the mainline climbs up into bridges above the streets. There’s absolutely no way the extension to Oswego/Sandwich would include Aurora as part of the stops due to the station location. That’s why Amtrak’s lines stop at Naperville, as Aurora is a complete deadend and there’s not much to be done about it without relocating and rebuilding the entire station completely.
You clearly did not know that Amtrak Hiawatha service has six round trips on a weekend and seven round trips on weekdays going to Milwaukee, and it would make no sense if both Metra and Amtrak will terminate at the same place, damn it!
Hence why I mentioned that UP-N taking a different route would be beneficial! The Hiawatha goes through Sturtevant out to the west, and the UP-N could go through Kenosha and downtown Racine.
I was thinking about most of these extensions too!! They should extend the UP-NW line to Janesville, WI and it would still be Metra’s longest route (it’s 91 miles from Chicago OTC all the way to Janesville), but they’d have to fix a few choke points on the line - including the grade separation of 4 diamond crossings and add a couple new express trains running nonstop from OTC to Crystal Lake, then stopping at Woodstock, Harvard and Clinton, WI. Metra could indeed extend the UP-N line all the way to Milwaukee and the Amtrak Hiawatha Service could be replaced by a Metra express service from OTC to Milwaukee with stops at Highland Park, Waukegan, Kenosha, Racine and MKE airport). This would allow Amtrak to focus their equipment and crews on longer routes that travel father away from Chicago (all of these Metra extensions would have to be within a 100 mile radius of Downtown Chicago). As for the BNSF line, it should go all the way to Somonauk (there’s a siding there for a few trains to be stored overnight) with a couple 10-car express trains per peak hour running nonstop from Chicago to Aurora,then stopping all all stations till Somonauk. They could also do a full rebuild of the Aurora station with a new station building and a long island platform for both Amtrak and Metra trains continuing past Aurora (trains terminating at Aurora could use the existing platform) and relocating the Amtrak stop from Naperville to Aurora
I just moved up to Chicago from Monee, Illinois. I lived in Monee for three and a half years (lived in the south suburbs all my life up to that point) and the downtown area could easily integrate a Metra station and would connect people to jobs up in the city. In fact, they could easily put a station on the other side of Rt. 50. I also lived in Bradley for a year and would have KILLED for a Metra station. Also, the South Suburban Airport initiative has been in limbo (I think they got a cargo airport now?) due to members of STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down) in the south suburbs. Gary Indiana has an airport that already isn't in use, so I can see why people fought against the airport for nearly 20 years.
Commuter rail from Kenosha to Milwaukee is actually being discussed right now in Wisconsin. One of the biggest customers on UP’s Milwaukee line is the Oak Creek coal fired power plant. With coal going away that power plant is in the process of being shut down over the next couple of years, so there’s going to be a lot less traffic on that line. However, just because we had passenger service on this corridor on the CNW and a couple of interurbans 100 years ago does not mean we should bring it back today. Travel habits have changed a lot since COVID, and Metra still hasn’t come anywhere near their ridership numbers pre-COVID. So who would you market this service towards? Usually, trains are marketed towards people who cannot or do not own a car and/or drive. How many people like that are there in southeastern Wisconsin? Another thing to consider is the people who live outside the cities of Kenosha and Racine that own cars and drive, but do not want to deal with the traffic and stress of driving to Chicago or Milwaukee. How do you convince them to go to downtown Kenosha or Racine and take a train to Chicago or Milwaukee there instead of driving to one of the park & rides on the Hiawatha line and taking that, likely faster, train to one of the endpoints? I think that we’re going to need limited stop service spread throughout the day instead of just in the rush hour directions to market those services to the people living in towns farther away, and then leaving the milk run trains to neighborhoods a relatively short distance away from the terminus station downtown. And this applies to ALL Metra services.
One issue is that there isn't a Hiawatha station at Kenosha, nor is there a Metra station at Racine. As a result, the only place the two lines meet is at Union Station. The solution to this might be as simple as adding an Amtrak station in Kenosha. That way, you can take a train to Milwaukee from Kenosha without having to transfer to Chicago first. Another thing is that the existing Kenosha service only goes up to Kenosha at rush hour. Most of the day, that route only goes to Waukegan. Allowing service throughout the day may increase frequency, especially since Kenosha is actually quite the nice-looking city, particularly along its lakefront.
@@animal5085 The thing with Kenosha is that the city actually purchases service from Metra to stop there. They aren’t part of the RTA’s zone. It’s very likely that a KRM train would work with Metra in terms of connections, but they might not be through running. Also, do you mean the intermodal station in Milwaukee? The Hiawatha terminates at Union Station in Chicago, but the UP-N line terminates at Ogilvie. However, following the UP line north of Kenosha, it’s all single track now through Racine and up to Milwaukee. However, that track does terminate at the Milwaukee intermodal station, same as the Hiawatha. You’d likely need to upgrade the ROW through Wisconsin, and pay for significant capacity upgrades at Milwaukee Intermodal station too. Then it becomes a funding issue.
@@ENB2002 I forgot about Oglevie. What I was saying is that right now, if you want to get from Kenosha to Milwaukee, you have to go all the way to Chicago first. Adding train service from Kenosha to Milwaukee can resolve this.
the milwaukee extension shouls serve both milwaukkee airport abd a probably more frequeny ferries across lake michigan probably also with somewhat smaller b elecrtric ferries,
The Wadsworth extension sounds nice to add. Would that mean that only some trains will go through there if it was built since it has two branches on the line?
I didn't know chicago had so many super commuters. Kankakee has 6000 per day (in 2013). An ME extension there would be cool but that's a lot to spend (probably 200 mil) on a small number of people 😔
I've always thought that the Metro Electric could easily make it to Kankakee, and even have some dedicated commuter scheduling for Kankakee (since it is, in many ways, its own city). Also like the idea of the UP-N into Milwaukee (although that would require a change in Wisconsin Politics plus its own authority, as they're going to need to schedule transit service going to and from Milwaukee itself, along with some consideration for Racine and Kenosha) and the MD-W into Rockford (although I can see that given its own identity seeing as that would likely need different stopping pattern from Elgin to Chicago to justify the longer trip).
You know what's frustrating? That we have to build this infrastructure all over again (both heavy rail and the L). A hundred years ago a lot of these places had rail service.
In my personal opinion, as living in Kendall County, the BNSF line expansion is pointless. After Montgomery it is mostly cornfields and small towns. Expanding to Sandwich wouldn’t make much sense since it is not a Chicago Suburb. However, making a line that runs through Morris wouldn’t be such a bad idea. However, this may change since Plano is rapidly growing and they are building new infrastructure in Kendall County every once in a while.
I’m on the UPNW line, the mchenry branch used to run to lake Geneva and went south to Elgin along the Fox river. The spur still exists in Crystal lake but the tracks past route 14 are gone. Surprising you chose to run the train service on Fox lake line to lake Geneva but it makes sense. What would you think about the possible rockford connection to Chicago?
Considering historic interurban services which existed to Kankakee, it makes all the sense in the world today and should be a primary focus. Though, as on numerous of these extensions, perhaps not every train would run that far. Sort of like how Crystal Lake is a terminus for some UPNW trains and Waukegan for many UPN, and short turns to other suburbs (like Waukegan and Desplaines.) Could short branch extensions be served with an RDC type of one or two car dedicated dinky service, with transfer meets at mainline stations? I'd like to see an extension to Racine (the station is already available there) but also restoration of reverse commute services to Wisconsin middays. Except Saturday and one relatively short window Sunday, one can't effectively travel to Kenosha for recreation or shopping, let alone work anymore. Such a plan would fit in well with Metra's current direction of encouraging more short trips between towns outside downtown Chicago (as that still remains the major destination for most riders.) C&NW used to have popular weekend runs to Lake Geneva, via the McHenry branch on what is now the UPNW pre Metra. Will there be a shuttle bus to the Sandwich Fair from their station every September?
Caltrain (Metra’s sister in San Francisco) has plans to purchase a new battery-electric multiple unit “BEMU” trainset to their commuter line in addition to their new fleet of EMUs (they are finishing up a massive electrification project). Their primary corridor runs from SF to San Jose, but a few trains continue south to Gilroy, but the section south of SJ will not be electrified because UP owns those tracks, so instead, Caltrain has ordered a BEMU train, one that can charge itself on overhead wires in the electrified zone SF-SJ, then run off battery power the rest of the way to Gilroy. Metra could do the exactly same with an extension to Kankakee - they could order battery electric trains that could run on wires until University Park, then run on battery power for the rest of the trip to Kankakee
I just call the segment north of Rondout the C&M with stops at Abbot Park, Gurnee (with connecting to Pace 565 and potentially a short-turn route just for Six Flags Great America/Great Wolf Lodge/Gurnee Mills, maybe we should call it the 1565 and run from Mid-May through the end of Fright Fest as well as one Hiawatha round trip timed to meet ideal park guest traffic from Milwaukee, Wadsworth, I also added Bristol WI/Russel IL
Also local or intercity service to Rochelle? Also if the Southwest Service and the Southeast Service terminate at LaSalle, shouldn't the Longwood Branch of the Rock Island line be renamed the South Central Service even if Joliet is west of Manhattan?
I absolutely agree with the Rock Island Beverly Branch becoming its own line. With eventually three other lines (SWS, SES, RI) serving LaSalle, just call it the Beverly Line, and give it a separate identity and schedule with no more unneeded through trains to Joliet.
@@chNdjffifi my idea was SW/RI (South Central)/SE are hourly on weekends where the Beverly branch is 3 train/hr for 10mins to Gresham and 4 trains/hr to Blue Island. SW and SE get an additional train where RI gets 2 (one express/limited stops to Joliet, one local to Joliet, then Blue Island or Joliet local via Longwood branch)
I’m rooting for Metra to extend to Belleville, eventually taking over Metrolink, and renaming it to Metralink.
DeKalb extension is one of those things that's so obvious it's amazing it hasn't happened yet.
I think aside from the obvious the thing the Heritage Corridor suffers from the most is lack of stations, it goes through all these cool places the closer to the city it gets yet the first stop westward is Summit. Personally I'd really dig a Chinatown station.
It may be a bit outside Metra's purview but since they're expanding to Rockford I think it still fits, I'd like to see the Rock extended to LaSalle, I've gone through there a few times but didn't have time to stop, but it seems like it has good vibes so being able to take a train there to explore the place would be sick.
Extend both UP and MILW north to Milwaukee with the UP-N making more local stops and the MILW-N making limited stops and have Amtrak run full express.
EXTEND TO KANKAKEE AND RUN SECOND HAND ACELAS WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY.
If you were to extend a line to Milwaukee, it would be the UP North Line. The thing is you would have to build more stations, and on top of it you would have to expand Milwaukee's Union Station. You would also have to invest in new equipment like new locomotives and railcars. A lot of Metra's equipment is old, and would require more maintenance than usual
@@JohnAckerman93 They should do all that anyways and they should also move the terminal for the ferry to Michigan to the river alongside the Amtrak station in Milwaukee.
Haha, I love the idea of taking Metra from Chicago to Milwaukee. That trip would take probably 2 or 3 hours more than Amtrak does already which is some serious Miles In Transit vibes
Metra would have to use their new Alstom cars for that service and run a few express trains with only a few stops in between - that could indeed replace the Hiawatha and it would also allow Amtrak to use their equipment and crews on longer routes that travel a lot farther away from Chicago
It'd be great for the northern suburbs -- Waukegan and Kenosha are the two highest population communities along the line (outside of Chicago proper), and they also happen to be two of the furthest out from the city, so getting to the Hiawatha line isn't the most convenient. The fastest way to get to Milwaukee is via a coach from Kenosha, so there'd be value in an extension if it can improve on the speed and frequency of that bus (which shouldn't be a tall order).
Yeah, if METRA saw itself as serving the larger Chicago-Milwaukee metro area then an extension to Chicago to connect the southern burbs of Milwaukee to Milwaukee (as well as the rest of Chicagoland to Milwaukee) would be a game changer.
It’s akin to how I see GO Transit’s role having evolved in Toronto. It has shifted from a strictly Toronto centred rush hour commuter service to providing all day regional service to both Toronto and Hamilton (and other major cities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe).
There’s no proposal for it, but the extension to Rockford ABSOLUTELY MUST stop in Union, ideally at a station right next to the Railway Museum.
It could bring IRM record crowds, not to mention give easy access to it from people in the city who don’t own cars.
It’s a win win for rail fans, both in the historical sense and the modern sense. And for the public in general.
Also yes to the BNSF extension with a branch going to Sugar Grove, yes to the UP-W to Dekalb, yes to Lake Geneva, hard yes to Milwaukee.
the ideal but improbable extension is the other end: through running service would be a lifesaver
The UPNW could probably be extended to Janesville or even eventually Madison. It would be a much more direct route than sending Madison trains through Milwaukee.
That was actually the initial plan for the Lake Country Limited route, though more intended as a route for Amtrak Express Shipping than passengers
And, yet, the expected traffic generator for Madison IS Milwaukee.
However the tracks between Evansville and Brooklyn have been removed.
Metra is of course already extending the Milwaukee West to Rockford. The project will cost $275 million, and will be completed sometime in 2027. There will be service to and from Rockford seven days a week, with three inbound trains, and three outbound trains
Dang, 5 minute frequencies? They'd have to buy out all the museum F40s to make that happen
Or they purchase every EMD Built F40PH, F59 and SD70 as well as some MP36PH/MP40PHs from Other Commuter Railroad and some MPI Built F40PHs while we're at it, hell they could get some AEM-7s for the Main Line Electric District as well getting some Silverliner 5s for the South Chicago branch and some Silverliner 4s and Arrows 3s for the South Shore and as for Passenger Cars purchasing all of Caltrain's Gallery Cars as well as some of VRE's and plus some single level cars from MARC and CT Rail which were built by Nippon Shariyo and Mafersa repectively, basically a Foamer's Dream
The Lake Geneva line used to exist until around 1975, with active Chicago North Western service to Williams Bay, Wisconsin, ending on the shoreline of Lake Geneva. Most of the right of way is intact, whereas most of it has not been built on. There are still remnants of the right of way, and you can see where the track used to be. I have personally traced out this line in detail and can even tell you exactly where the track came through and where it came to a dead end on the shoreline of Lake Geneva.
(I even traced out the entire right of way of the former Chicago and North Western KD line, which crossed the Lake Geneva line at a diamond (And tower) just north of Richmond in Genoa City, Wisconsin, just north of the state line. (There is an abandoned steel bridge from the KD Line that is still hidden in Genoa, in fact.)
It's too bad that passenger service ended in Lake Geneva when Metra took over the service from the North Western. Lake Geneva remains one of Illinois tourists' most popular destinations today. The town is littered with Illinois license plates and often has more people from Illinois in the downtown area than people from Wisconsin.
On the south side of Lake Geneva, there is a caboose hotel area with several cabooses permanently parked on the former right-of-way. The track used to come into downtown Lake Geneva, crossing Hwy 50 where the Burger King is today. You can still see how some buildings in downtown Lake Geneva are at an odd angle due to the positioning of where the track ran alongside them.
Awesome video, by the way. It would be cool to take a Metra right past the Illinois Railroad Museum in Union as well on the way to Rockford.
As someone who lives along the UP-N corridor, I would love to see it extend to Milwaukee and Racine! It would be such a great alternative to the Hiawatha, as there arent any stops for that nearby to me.
They could upgrade Gary/Chicago instead of building a south suburban airport. Also South Bend airport serves Chicago directly by rail although I’d move the south shore terminal back downtown if I could.
The South Shore airport branch could be turned into an LRT/Streetcar line in South Bend Indiana
Go Huskies! Man i wish we had a Metra line into DeKalb instead of having to take a 30 min bus to Elburn
It’s not so bad right?
There was a study that was conducted by the city of DeKalb, and the study concluded that an extension of the UP West to DeKalb would work. There were about 10,000 people each week riding the line to and from DeKalb and NIU
I KNEW you would say UP North should go to Milwaukee
It never will happen that would just be too long of a line. Amtrak already serves a route from Chicago to Milwaukee.
@@dvferyance
I’m aware
Just funny they brought that up
I say bring back the initially proposed Southeast Service from a decade+ ago! That and extend into Northwest Indiana where the South Shore doesn't serve. There are populated areas in Lake and Porter County with no commuter rail nor easy expressway access such as Merillville, Crown Point, and the South Side of Valparaiso.
I think there should be more infill stations on the Southwest Service, rather than an extension. I propose adding a station at Route 30 in New Lenox, to provide a transfer to the Rock Island District. I think there should also be another station in Orland Park: Alpine. That would benefit more residents in Orland Park an fill a 3.5 mile gap between 153rd and 179th street stations. Further north, I would like to see a station at Oak Lawn, since it is a decently sized suburb with no passenger rail service. This would greatly benefit residents in the area as well as a large commercial area, as long as the station is built on Route 20. Within the Chicago city limits, I would recommend bringing back the two stations at Western Avenue and Halsted Street, as well as an infill station at Englewood/63rd, providing a potential connection to the Green Line. Lastly, I would recommend adding a infill station at 35th Street, providing a connection to both the Red Line and the Rock Island District.
Great collection of proposals! No matter how pessimistic a government/agency is or how long/expensive a study may be, never give up for the extension/introduction of any passenger rail proposal, since even the smallest improvements will bring forth much needed good for the surrounding regions, as you should constantly be fighting for the best possible service to these regions. Always follow the golden rule: more train good.
I always try to strike a balance between optimistic and realistic in my proposals - sure it’s fun to think of wild proposals and extensions (and they’re always fun to see!) But I personally like to think of things that I think would be feasible in my lifetime
The north branch on the MD-N would be a huge benefit for the city of Gurnee so people can get to Six Flags Great America easily instead of using the UP-N which is more longer
There was talk a while back about adding a station in Gurnee. It would make sense since it's a good size village, and on top of it you have Great America there too
This might be a bit of a stretch, but I would like to see:
1. BNSF be further extended to Mendota
2. UP-W out to Rochelle with anothee stop in Malta
3. RI to LaSalle-Peru
4. MD-W to Byron
5. UP-NW to Janesville
And maybe add a new line called the CN Line (and labeled black in honor of the ICRR), running from CUS to Genoa via South Elgin and Addison
Whew!
Rockford is further from Chicago than Milwaukee, and further from Elgin than Kenosha is from Milwaukee, and the CN&W used to offer service to Milwaukee, so given the current planned Rockford extension/service, Metra service to Milwaukee wouldn't actually be as crazy as it sounds
I could see a short extension of the Southwest Service...about a mile or so...to Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, where there would be access to trailheads on the property, especially if Metra were to equip those trains with bike transport cars. It appears as if the old Wabash right-of-way could be reclaimed for the rails to be laid.
The only drawback is that Midewin's visitors' center is on the west side of the property, whereas a SW Service extension would run along the east side. An extension of the Heritage Corridor or the Rock Island(once Lincoln Service trains use the Rock between Chicago and Joliet) could provide a stop a very short distance from the visitors' center.
A stop near Midewin could become even more vital if transportation between the stop and nearby Lincoln National Veterans' Cemetery were made available. The cemetery already has a fleet of minibuses which shuttle visitors throughout the grounds. Dedicating a few to get Metra passengers onto the property could prove extremely popular with those who wish to visit the graves of loved ones but have no way of getting to the cemetery, which will eventually hold as many as 400,000 graves.
nothing wrong with more metra
UPN should re-extend 🔙 to Milwaukee, UPNW should be re-extended 🔙 to Evansville & Williams Bay Wisconsin, & MDN should be re-extended 🔙 to Walworth Wisconsin
Maybe Extend the Milwaukee District North back to it's original terminus in Walworth Wisconsin, a Milwaukee District West Branch to Hampshire, a Union Pacific North Branch to Waukegan using the CNW/NSL Skokie Valley line and another branch to Union Station using the Union Pacific Chicago Tribune Subdivison, as well as 3 new lines, The SouthEast Service, The NorthWest Service and The Valparaiso Commuter Line.
They’ve been talking about the BNSF extension to Kendall County for the last 30+ years. While I’m not getting my hopes up I really want it to happen, especially now for two reasons.
In Oswego right next to where the station is going to go, some rich business guy is about to build a Cricket Stadium that could potentially grow to seat 24k people, and naturally the locals are being NIMBY’s about it largely because the potential for heavy traffic.
Second and in my opinion more immediate of an issue. In Yorkville, just one mile down the road from where the station would be is Raging Waves Water Park, the largest water park in the state. You could both run shuttle buses and put in a bike trail along Route 47 between the water park and the train station.
Hey Stormy,
on Metra's UP-N line, we get a new station.
*Peterson/Ridge.*
Looking at the transit map of Chicago - as an outsider (from Toronto) - both METRA + CTA - what seems to really be needed is a new METRA line that connects the regions - an “outer loop” or something like that.
I know that there were some plans to build some sort of rail at one point on the Cicero corridor - not sure where it could go now - may need some subway portions, but that’s allowable even for heavy frequency (electrified) regional rail. Other routes, or a CTA project (Pink Line extension) could be done. Either way - you guys really need a circumferential line - if a line breaks down and you’re on it - you have no option to just transfer trains or people via other tracks. It builds in redundancy and just connects your city in an exponential number of ways it isn’t already.
Don’t get me wrong - Toronto is not doing great at this. It’s arguably worse. But Chicago has such an amazing urban and commuter network but it’s 100% radial - I don’t know if there is a bigger network in the world without any radial lines at all.
I would love to see the McHenry branch extended to Lake Geneva. However Wisconsin would have to chip in and I am not sure if they want to do that. Until 1975 Lake Geneva did have passenger rail service to Chicago.
Pah, no ambition! The Metra extension we need is the Trans-Lake Express, with direct service to Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. And because it's Metra, it'll terminate at a park & ride in Springport with no pedestrian access.
I know what you meant but for some reason I can’t stop thinking of Metra on tracks directly over Lake Michigan
No no, that's what I meant, because I was being silly. Right over the Lake on the 60 Mile Bridge! Less than an hour ride from Union Station to Benton Harbor. But using Metra gallery cars, because Metra.
Though really, regional service between western Michigan and northern Indiana and Chicago would be so great.@@karatransitfur
Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern. STAR Service.
Actually, a Metra UP-N extension to Milwaukee would be very beneficial and makes a lot of sense. It could easily supplement Amtrak service and give people more options to travel between the two cities. Stops could easily be added at Racine, Oak Creek, and South Milwaukee before terminating at Milwaukee intermodal. There has been a plan in the past to build a commuter line between Milwaukee intermodal and Kenosha where you could transfer to Metra, but it’s since been scrapped
I've toyed with the same crayoning concept for my home Regional Rail agency. The result is the T sprawling to every state in New England which is insane
Metra Extensions
That is the video
metra should add a branch line on the UP-W line to serve the Dupage County airport.
I’m pretty sure that extension past Aurora is going to be a separate branch though, as the Aurora station splits off from the mainline and ends right in the downtown area, while the mainline climbs up into bridges above the streets. There’s absolutely no way the extension to Oswego/Sandwich would include Aurora as part of the stops due to the station location. That’s why Amtrak’s lines stop at Naperville, as Aurora is a complete deadend and there’s not much to be done about it without relocating and rebuilding the entire station completely.
I feel like I saw something saying they were going to reconfigure it so it would be through-running; I’m not sure though
@@karatransitfur I mean hey that would be cool if that’s the case
You clearly did not know that Amtrak Hiawatha service has six round trips on a weekend and seven round trips on weekdays going to Milwaukee, and it would make no sense if both Metra and Amtrak will terminate at the same place, damn it!
Hence why I mentioned that UP-N taking a different route would be beneficial! The Hiawatha goes through Sturtevant out to the west, and the UP-N could go through Kenosha and downtown Racine.
I was thinking about most of these extensions too!!
They should extend the UP-NW line to Janesville, WI and it would still be Metra’s longest route (it’s 91 miles from Chicago OTC all the way to Janesville), but they’d have to fix a few choke points on the line - including the grade separation of 4 diamond crossings and add a couple new express trains running nonstop from OTC to Crystal Lake, then stopping at Woodstock, Harvard and Clinton, WI.
Metra could indeed extend the UP-N line all the way to Milwaukee and the Amtrak Hiawatha Service could be replaced by a Metra express service from OTC to Milwaukee with stops at Highland Park, Waukegan, Kenosha, Racine and MKE airport). This would allow Amtrak to focus their equipment and crews on longer routes that travel father away from Chicago (all of these Metra extensions would have to be within a 100 mile radius of Downtown Chicago).
As for the BNSF line, it should go all the way to Somonauk (there’s a siding there for a few trains to be stored overnight) with a couple 10-car express trains per peak hour running nonstop from Chicago to Aurora,then stopping all all stations till Somonauk. They could also do a full rebuild of the Aurora station with a new station building and a long island platform for both Amtrak and Metra trains continuing past Aurora (trains terminating at Aurora could use the existing platform) and relocating the Amtrak stop from Naperville to Aurora
I just moved up to Chicago from Monee, Illinois. I lived in Monee for three and a half years (lived in the south suburbs all my life up to that point) and the downtown area could easily integrate a Metra station and would connect people to jobs up in the city. In fact, they could easily put a station on the other side of Rt. 50. I also lived in Bradley for a year and would have KILLED for a Metra station.
Also, the South Suburban Airport initiative has been in limbo (I think they got a cargo airport now?) due to members of STAND (Shut This Airport Nightmare Down) in the south suburbs. Gary Indiana has an airport that already isn't in use, so I can see why people fought against the airport for nearly 20 years.
Personally I don't think we need an airport down there. Definitely need Metra Electric though!
Commuter rail from Kenosha to Milwaukee is actually being discussed right now in Wisconsin. One of the biggest customers on UP’s Milwaukee line is the Oak Creek coal fired power plant. With coal going away that power plant is in the process of being shut down over the next couple of years, so there’s going to be a lot less traffic on that line.
However, just because we had passenger service on this corridor on the CNW and a couple of interurbans 100 years ago does not mean we should bring it back today. Travel habits have changed a lot since COVID, and Metra still hasn’t come anywhere near their ridership numbers pre-COVID. So who would you market this service towards? Usually, trains are marketed towards people who cannot or do not own a car and/or drive. How many people like that are there in southeastern Wisconsin? Another thing to consider is the people who live outside the cities of Kenosha and Racine that own cars and drive, but do not want to deal with the traffic and stress of driving to Chicago or Milwaukee. How do you convince them to go to downtown Kenosha or Racine and take a train to Chicago or Milwaukee there instead of driving to one of the park & rides on the Hiawatha line and taking that, likely faster, train to one of the endpoints? I think that we’re going to need limited stop service spread throughout the day instead of just in the rush hour directions to market those services to the people living in towns farther away, and then leaving the milk run trains to neighborhoods a relatively short distance away from the terminus station downtown. And this applies to ALL Metra services.
One issue is that there isn't a Hiawatha station at Kenosha, nor is there a Metra station at Racine. As a result, the only place the two lines meet is at Union Station. The solution to this might be as simple as adding an Amtrak station in Kenosha. That way, you can take a train to Milwaukee from Kenosha without having to transfer to Chicago first.
Another thing is that the existing Kenosha service only goes up to Kenosha at rush hour. Most of the day, that route only goes to Waukegan. Allowing service throughout the day may increase frequency, especially since Kenosha is actually quite the nice-looking city, particularly along its lakefront.
@@animal5085 The thing with Kenosha is that the city actually purchases service from Metra to stop there. They aren’t part of the RTA’s zone. It’s very likely that a KRM train would work with Metra in terms of connections, but they might not be through running.
Also, do you mean the intermodal station in Milwaukee? The Hiawatha terminates at Union Station in Chicago, but the UP-N line terminates at Ogilvie. However, following the UP line north of Kenosha, it’s all single track now through Racine and up to Milwaukee. However, that track does terminate at the Milwaukee intermodal station, same as the Hiawatha. You’d likely need to upgrade the ROW through Wisconsin, and pay for significant capacity upgrades at Milwaukee Intermodal station too. Then it becomes a funding issue.
@@ENB2002 I forgot about Oglevie. What I was saying is that right now, if you want to get from Kenosha to Milwaukee, you have to go all the way to Chicago first. Adding train service from Kenosha to Milwaukee can resolve this.
the milwaukee extension shouls serve both milwaukkee airport abd a probably more frequeny ferries across lake michigan probably also with somewhat smaller b elecrtric ferries,
The Wadsworth extension sounds nice to add. Would that mean that only some trains will go through there if it was built since it has two branches on the line?
Are you going to the South Shore expansions?
I didn't know chicago had so many super commuters. Kankakee has 6000 per day (in 2013). An ME extension there would be cool but that's a lot to spend (probably 200 mil) on a small number of people 😔
MED was planning planning on being extended to Peotone Illinois
400-700 million is insane for 20 miles and like 6 trains a day
I've always thought that the Metro Electric could easily make it to Kankakee, and even have some dedicated commuter scheduling for Kankakee (since it is, in many ways, its own city). Also like the idea of the UP-N into Milwaukee (although that would require a change in Wisconsin Politics plus its own authority, as they're going to need to schedule transit service going to and from Milwaukee itself, along with some consideration for Racine and Kenosha) and the MD-W into Rockford (although I can see that given its own identity seeing as that would likely need different stopping pattern from Elgin to Chicago to justify the longer trip).
Laraway road and Manhattan are the least used metra stations so extending the sws would be more pointless and a waste of money
You know what's frustrating? That we have to build this infrastructure all over again (both heavy rail and the L). A hundred years ago a lot of these places had rail service.
Glad to see another huskie on TH-cam 😭😭
NIU represent 🫡
actually, braidwood is not an extension, but it will serivce on elwood and wilmington.
I know, that was one of my fantasy extensions
@@karatransitfur Why not Extend the Heritage Corridor line to Dwight Illinois?
new new terminal sration in sandwich should have a sadwich sop in iy lol.
In my personal opinion, as living in Kendall County, the BNSF line expansion is pointless. After Montgomery it is mostly cornfields and small towns. Expanding to Sandwich wouldn’t make much sense since it is not a Chicago Suburb. However, making a line that runs through Morris wouldn’t be such a bad idea. However, this may change since Plano is rapidly growing and they are building new infrastructure in Kendall County every once in a while.
I don't think the BNSF extension is needed personally, but I could understand it going out to Plano, especially since Amtrak also stops there.
I’m on the UPNW line, the mchenry branch used to run to lake Geneva and went south to Elgin along the Fox river. The spur still exists in Crystal lake but the tracks past route 14 are gone. Surprising you chose to run the train service on Fox lake line to lake Geneva but it makes sense. What would you think about the possible rockford connection to Chicago?
Why not extend UP-West to Dixon they could always store the trains in Nelson, it cannot be more than 100 miles from Ogilvie?
Also why not Intergrate the South Shore into the Metra System as a subsidiary of Metra.
Is metric go all the way to Peoria that would be crazy because my grandparents live near there.
Why not extend the Northwest line to Janesville?
Considering historic interurban services which existed to Kankakee, it makes all the sense in the world today and should be a primary focus. Though, as on numerous of these extensions, perhaps not every train would run that far. Sort of like how Crystal Lake is a terminus for some UPNW trains and Waukegan for many UPN, and short turns to other suburbs (like Waukegan and Desplaines.)
Could short branch extensions be served with an RDC type of one or two car dedicated dinky service, with transfer meets at mainline stations?
I'd like to see an extension to Racine (the station is already available there) but also restoration of reverse commute services to Wisconsin middays. Except Saturday and one relatively short window Sunday, one can't effectively travel to Kenosha for recreation or shopping, let alone work anymore. Such a plan would fit in well with Metra's current direction of encouraging more short trips between towns outside downtown Chicago (as that still remains the major destination for most riders.)
C&NW used to have popular weekend runs to Lake Geneva, via the McHenry branch on what is now the UPNW pre Metra.
Will there be a shuttle bus to the Sandwich Fair from their station every September?
Caltrain (Metra’s sister in San Francisco) has plans to purchase a new battery-electric multiple unit “BEMU” trainset to their commuter line in addition to their new fleet of EMUs (they are finishing up a massive electrification project). Their primary corridor runs from SF to San Jose, but a few trains continue south to Gilroy, but the section south of SJ will not be electrified because UP owns those tracks, so instead, Caltrain has ordered a BEMU train, one that can charge itself on overhead wires in the electrified zone SF-SJ, then run off battery power the rest of the way to Gilroy.
Metra could do the exactly same with an extension to Kankakee - they could order battery electric trains that could run on wires until University Park, then run on battery power for the rest of the trip to Kankakee
I just call the segment north of Rondout the C&M with stops at Abbot Park, Gurnee (with connecting to Pace 565 and potentially a short-turn route just for Six Flags Great America/Great Wolf Lodge/Gurnee Mills, maybe we should call it the 1565 and run from Mid-May through the end of Fright Fest as well as one Hiawatha round trip timed to meet ideal park guest traffic from Milwaukee, Wadsworth, I also added Bristol WI/Russel IL
4:03 infill before McHenry, then Intercity service to Janesville/Madison WI
fuck it Metra electric extension to Detroit
Transit talk 12
5m for an impact study, smh
Southeast Service??
Also local or intercity service to Rochelle? Also if the Southwest Service and the Southeast Service terminate at LaSalle, shouldn't the Longwood Branch of the Rock Island line be renamed the South Central Service even if Joliet is west of Manhattan?
I absolutely agree with the Rock Island Beverly Branch becoming its own line. With eventually three other lines (SWS, SES, RI) serving LaSalle, just call it the Beverly Line, and give it a separate identity and schedule with no more unneeded through trains to Joliet.
@@chNdjffifi my idea was SW/RI (South Central)/SE are hourly on weekends where the Beverly branch is 3 train/hr for 10mins to Gresham and 4 trains/hr to Blue Island. SW and SE get an additional train where RI gets 2 (one express/limited stops to Joliet, one local to Joliet, then Blue Island or Joliet local via Longwood branch)
best video ever
i support the milwakee bc i also want to see F40s and gallery cars. they should make it only F40s and gallery cars on that line haha