Metra to extend service to Rockford by 2027

Today the governor announced that by 2027, Metra will be running service up to Rockford. It will be 2 trains a day, 7 days a week.

Metra plans to launch the rail in 2027 with stations in Belvidere, Huntley, and Rockford as an extension of the Milwaukee District West Line to Chicago. The service was discontinued in 1981.
The travel time from Rockford to Chicago is estimated at 95 minutes with the rail offering two trains both ways, seven days a week.

Sources:

• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/metra ... r-AA1dx8UH

• https://www.rrstar.com/story/news/2023/ ... 386574007/

I believe this is wonderful news! Any sort of service restoration is good! I'm curious as to why Metra? And are they gonna use more comfortable seats? I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this news.

(I'm relatively new to this forum, as such I'm not super familiar with any posting guidelines. I did a quick search, and there were some mentions of Metra Rockford service under different topics unrelated to the news itself, so I believe it's ok for me to post. If not, please let me know )

That might be the first decision made by Governor Jelly Belly that I can support.

Using Metra to operate the service has always been a no-brainer, and something I've advocated for here for years.

They are a state agency that owns and now will operate the equipment, and the distance to Rockford (88 miles) isn't materially different than the distance already being operated to Harvard (74 miles). Maybe all of those unneeded Alstom Corradias will be put to use after all.

Now, do DeKalb and Milwaukee the same way....

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4 years to Rockford? Wonder what passenger demand might change in those 4 years?

It's not about the demand to Rockford as much as it is the communities in between. Huntley has boomed to the point even the IRM is concerned about NIMBYs. They'll hopefully gain a flagstop at the museum, though.

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More info: Chi.Streetblog.Org

Metra Board of Directors officially signs off on planning Rockford service via Memorandum of Understanding with IDOT
...
While many details will still need to be negotiated, the MOU has some interesting nuggets. While IDOT has been upfront from the get-go that the service will have two round trips, the document confirms a morning round trip and an evening round trip. While that statement also made it clear that there will be a stop at Elgin, the MOU indicates that Metra and IDOT would need to choose which of the three stations located in Elgin it would be. The agreement calls for the two entities to “determine preliminary plans and cost estimates” by November 1, 2023.

The new service would use the existing Metra-owned Milwaukee District West Line tracks until its terminus at the Big Timber station. A new connection will need to be built to link those tracks to Union Pacific tracks that run parallel to the Metra tracks near the station before heading northwest toward Rockford. The MOU indicates that IDOT will not only pay for the connection out of its own pocket, but design and build it after running the designs by Metra.
...
The downtown Elgin station seems like the most logical choice – it is the busiest station of the three and serves as a local transit hub, with express buses toward the Rosemont Blue Line ‘L’ station and local buses traveling as far south as Aurora and as far north as Crystal Lake. There is also the question of capacity – the downtown station has extra tracks for trains that originate and terminate there. If Metra and IDOT do choose one of the other stations, both are served by Pace bus routes that travel to downtown Elgin.
...
While the MOU specifies that the schedule for two round trips will still need to be finalized, it does broadly outline that the service will have “two departures between 6 to 8 a.m. and two departures between 5 to 7 p.m.” The tentative schedule notably avoids giving any times for when trains will depart from and arrive at Rockford, or any other stop northwest of Elgin, which includes Huntley and Belvidere. But it calls from the morning inbound train to arrive in Elgin at 8:06 a.m. and at the Chicago Union Station at 8:55 a.m, while the morning outbound train would leave the Union Station at 7:30 a.m. and stop in Elgin at 8:19 a.m. The evening outbound train would leave the Union Station at 5:15 p.m.., and arrive in Elgin at 6:04 p.m., while the inbound train will arrive at Elgin at 5:51 p.m. and at the Union Station at 6:04 p.m.
...

If service were ever more frequent, I wonder if a stop at East Union Depot could go on the books?

The stop at Elgin is almost guaranteed to be downtown. The connector track at Big Timber between the MD-W and UP is before the current platform, so short of a new track and platform, it's not likely to fit....

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but on this forum have been other posts about extending the Metra network. One was about extending BNSF service to Sandwich, and the other was about the UP-W going out to DeKalb. On both threads the underlying theme seems to be about adding the additional counties to the Metra taxation district. My question is, how does the governor plan to impose this on the otherwise rural counties? Is the funding coming from somewhere other than the added taxes?

There's been no change to the tax funding requirements to join the RTA in order to have commuter service.

What the state did here was work around the agreement, and I have to give them credit for finding a way to do that without taking the political hit of changing the RTA funding mechanism.

The State will be paying Metra to operate to Rockford instead of paying Amtrak, and it will be a dedicated trainset vs. extending the existing MD-W.

This same funding mechanism could presumably also be used to introduce service to DeKalb and Sandwich.

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Having dedicated trainsets opens the door to providing enhanced accommodations, more like shorter-haul Amfleet, better suited to the distance. If that is done, should the Rockford trains take passengers locally between Metra stations Big Timber and east? And if so, should an extra fare apply because of the greater comfort? If the trains are going to be nonstop between Elgin and Chicago (or Western Ave.?) Without an extra fare I can see the Elgin pax hogging all the seats out of Chicago.

And who knows--if enough people are willing to pay extra for more comfort there may be some demand from Kenosha and the North Shore ...

For connections short of downtown just connect at some stations. Easily change schedule for commuter train to leave just behind express to downtown.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 21, 2023 9:15 pm Having dedicated trainsets opens the door to providing enhanced accommodations, more like shorter-haul Amfleet, better suited to the distance. If that is done, should the Rockford trains take passengers locally between Metra stations Big Timber and east? And if so, should an extra fare apply because of the greater comfort? If the trains are going to be nonstop between Elgin and Chicago (or Western Ave.?) Without an extra fare I can see the Elgin pax hogging all the seats out of Chicago.

Let's be a bit clearer... By dedicated, it's going to be a trainset and locomotive operating outside the existing MD-W schedule and equipment rotations.

It's still going to be bi-levels out of the commuter pool. No greater comfort level unless some of the new Alstom's show up by then.

So are you thinking the train will pick up and drop passengers west of Elgin and not accept inbound passengers from Elgin to Chicago (or allow outbound passengers off before the train is past Elgin? That reminds me of the South Shore service, except the South Shore owns and operates their own trains (not purchase of service).

I was just raising some points that will have to be decided by somebody--presumably whoever will be paying the piper.

What would be wild is that METRA would have to lease some Amfleets to provide the type of amenities that Metra does not have.