CHICAGO — Metra’s own plan for offering rail service to O’Hare Airport, as well as its vision of more frequent, all-day regional rail service, is part of a draft version of a Systemwide Network Plan report released this week that envisions the future of the commuter rail agency.
The document “not only lays out near- and mid-term implementation steps to support the evolution of Metra service,” the plan says in its introduction, “but it also defines a long-term vision for what regional rail can become.” That, it says, includes increased schedules on all lines seven days a week, as well as a shift to alternative-energy rolling stock.
Such a restructuring would not be cheap. The total cost of implementing a regional rail plan would be more than $9 billion, the report says, with $2.7 billion in near-term spending and $6.4 billion for major capital investments. A source to fund those expenditures will have to be found.
Regional rail’s first phase
The 60-page report envisions the development of regional rail in two phases. The first, Regional Rail 1.0, calls for more consistent all-day service on all lines, with trains every 30 to 60 minutes. It also includes what it calls “inner and outer zone” service on four lines: the Union Pacific North, Milwaukee North, Rock Island, and Metra Electric. This service pattern would see high-frequency, frequent-stop trains closer to the city center, and express service from outlying areas. A mid-corridor station would allow transfer between the two types of service. Other lines, such as the BNSF and Union Pacific West, would see a simplified pattern of local and express stops, which the report says “are better aligned with where the ridership potential is.”…