Metra

It's tempting to call out Metra for the fact that the plan doesn't include expanding service, but insufficient funding for the system is to blame.

Our wide-ranging and bicycle-friendly rail system offers multiple options for taking a train out to the exurbs and then pedaling a few miles to a forest preserve, natural area, or state park.

Here’s some mind-bending drone footage of Metra trains passing by the west end of the Bloomingdale Trail, aka The 606.

Local leaders say many planned improvements would be almost impossible to pay for without help from the feds, so we're going to have to fight this anti-urban budget with everything we've got.

When you think about appropriate uses for federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement dollars, pouring asphalt to make more room for warehousing automobiles is not the first thing that comes to mind.

This isn't a wish list. These are five standard features of most bus networks in Europe.

Streetsblog Reader and former Transport Notes blogger Alan Robinson contacted us on Monday, concerned that a poorly publicized change to Metra’s Union Pacific West Line schedule that started that day would lead to riders missing their trains. The line runs from the Ogilvie Center to the small town of Elburn, stopping at suburbs like Oak Park, Elmhurst, Wheaton, and Geneva along the way.

Commuter trains rumble by every few minutes while four Metra workers tell me inside a control tower how they keep 370 trains moving every day. The machine that controls switches between tracks has been operating since 1937. There needs to be more reliable and resilient equipment in place, but it's not a cheap or easy job to replace an ancient system.

Transportation advocacy organizations and community groups have joined forces as the Coalition for a Modern Metra Electric, pushing for improvements to the commuter rail line that could lead to better job access and more economic development on the South Side. They want to see rapid transit-style train frequency, fare and schedule integration with the CTA and Pace, and – eventually – the extension of the line all the way to O’Hare.