After a year of weighing alternatives for improving commuter rail service in Lake County and the northern part of Cook County, Metra has proposed 12 miles of new track and five new passenger stations along its North Central Service Line.
Details of the $188 million plan are to be disclosed Wednesday night at a public forum at Buffalo Grove’s village hall, 50 Raupp Blvd. The bulk of the funds would be used to construct new tracks, Metra officials said.
Metra wants to add a second track between Mundelein in Lake County and Franklin Park in Cook County, opening the way for as many as 12 more trains a day between Antioch and downtown Chicago. The expansion would more than double Metra’s current capacity of 10 trains a day between the two points.
The new stations are proposed in Grayslake, Des Plaines, Rosemont, Schiller Park and Franklin Park. The new Des Plaines stop, just west of that suburb’s downtown, would be a transfer point between Metra’s North Central and the Union Pacific-Northwest Line.
“This gives more opportunities for access to O’Hare and other stops within Lake County and north Cook because there will be more frequent service,” said Linda Bolte, transportation director for the Chicago Area Transportation Study, a metropolitan transportation planning agency.
But except for the Des Plaines station, which Metra is willing to pay for itself, the communities will be asked to foot the bill for the new stations, said Gary Foyle, Metra’s director of planning and analysis. The cost of all the stations and parking could run as high as $20 million, he said.
The North Central line has proved highly popular since service began in August 1996. Since then, ridership had more than doubled to 4,441 a day, officials said.
Further expansion of the line has been constrained, however, because Metra shares the single track daily with up to 30 freight trains operated by Wisconsin Central Railroad, which owns the track.
Some public officials in Lake County expressed disappointment that the double track will extend only part way up the line.
“I’d like to understand why they are double-tracking only to Mundelein,” asked Mayor Pat Carey of Grayslake.
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Metra officials said they decided against laying track to Antioch, the end of the line for commuter service, because of the cost.
Other municipal and county officials said the popularity of the North Central Service Line shows that residents want expanded service, with more trains throughout the day and on weekends.
“We’d like to see double tracking to Antioch,” said Martin Buehler, Lake County’s transportation director. “To make the service viable, you really need to provide the options for people downtown to leave earlier and not be stuck down there waiting for the next train.”
But Metra spokesman Frank Malone said doubling the track from Franklin Park to Mundelein would provide ample expanded service to points north of Mundelein.
“Adding a second track down the line will improve service on the entire line, in terms of being able to add more trains,” Malone said, “so Antioch is not losing out.”
North Central trains operate over the Wisconsin Central from Antioch to a junction with the Metra Milwaukee District West Line in Franklin Park. From there, trains travel over the Milwaukee District, a multiple-track line, to Union Station in downtown Chicago.
North of Franklin Park, the North Central line is mostly single-track, except for 2.6 miles of double track in Wheeling and 2.7 miles north of Mundelein. At Lake Villa, a current double track section of 1.8 miles is being increased by 2.3 miles to the south, Malone said.
“The more double track we have, the more trains can pass each other without having to wait,” he said.
And the more double tracks there are, the greater the capacity for both Metra passenger trains and Wisconsin Central freight trains. While Metra boasts a 98 percent on-time operation on the North Central Service Line, it must restrict service during hours that freight trains are operating.
“Now, we keep our freight trains out of there during morning rush hours inbound and evening rush hours outbound,” said Thomas Powers, chief financial officer and spokesman for Wisconsin Central, which also would have preferred doubling the track to Antioch.
“But we can’t give them more time,” Powers said. “Our freight can’t just sit there. Our customers will become unhappy and go someplace else.”