Metra adding trains to Rock Island, Electric lines as part of new transit law requirement

Metra is adding several daily train runs to its Rock Island District line starting June 1, the first step in schedule adjustments required by the Northern Illinois Transit Authority law that goes into effect the same day.

The commuter rail agency is adding four late-day daily train trips on weekdays and 18 more weekend train trips. The Rock Island line is also phasing out “flag stops,” which require a customer to wave down a train for it to stop at a station, in favor of standard stops. Some stops have been dropped from the schedule due to low ridership.

The idea, Metra CEO Jim Derwinski said in a board meeting last week, is to move toward “regional rail service.” Regional rail service means more frequent all-day trains, a shift away from the agency’s 9-to-5 commuter schedule. The NITA law requires Metra implement regional rail service pilots on the Rock Island and Metra Electric lines.

Derwinski said the pilot program will expand “later this year” to separate the Beverly branch line from the Rock Island’s mainline branch. Doing so should help reduce travel time to and from downtown to around 30 minutes, he said.

But more work will be required to provide 30-minute service to Tinley Park and Mokena, Derwinski said. That could include additional signal work and track crossovers.

Looking further ahead, quickening service to Joliet would require a substantial investment in a flyover over the Canadian National crossing that currently makes a “bottleneck” near the far southwest suburb, Derwinski said.

The agency expects to announce addition train service on the Metra Electric soon, Derwinski said. That would include new trains added June 15 to provide service every 20-minutes to Hyde Park — just in time for the June 19 opening of the Obama Presidential Center, Derwinski said.

Find details about upcoming schedule changes at metra.com/schedules.