Metra Electric

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and aviation commissioner Ginger Evans stated earlier this year that creating an express train to O'Hare Airport is a priority for this administration. However, the Blue Line is already a fairly speedy way to get to the airport, which could easily be upgraded via a few short-term improvements. Therefore, the city might be wiser to invest in neighborhood transit projects, rather than creating a premium service for well-heeled travelers.

The South Loop-focused blog Sloopin reported last month that more residents in the Prairie District are using the Metra Electric service's 18th Street station to catch a fast, on-time ride into the East Loop. A trip from 18th Street to Van Buren or Millennium Stations costs $2.75 and takes 10-15 minutes. A similar ride on the Chicago Transit Authority's 3-King Drive bus would take over 20 minutes and cost $2.00, and no CTA rail stations are currently within walking distance.

Start with the good news: Ridership on Metra, Chicagoland’s main commuter rail service, has grown almost 14 percent over the last ten years. It remains near the all-time high it reached in 2008, just before the Great Recession. On any given weekday, Metra provides nearly 300,000 rides across its 11 lines, or roughly as many as the CTA’s Brown and Blue lines put together. Some lines have even continued to grow, surpassing their 2008 ridership, notably the North Central Service running northwest to Antioch, and the SouthWest Service through Ashburn and Orland Park to Manhattan. Of Metra's more-established lines, the best performer since 2008 has been the Union Pacific Northwest line, which runs through towns like Arlington Heights (pictured above) and Des Plaines that have pursued Transit Oriented Development in their downtowns.

South Shore residents have launched a campaign to rescue their neighborhood's walkable retail core.

Amtrak trains would run faster between Chicago and Joliet in the Illinois Department of Transportation's proposal to switch St. Louis-bound trains to less crowded tracks. But IDOT's project could be even better with a few key changes. By folding the track upgrade known as CrossRail into the Amtrak project, IDOT could improve intercity trains and regional Metra service in one fell swoop.

A Metra Electric train crosses Yates Boulevard out of the South Shore station. Photo by Jeff Zoline.