Metra adding trains to Rock Island line as part of new transit law requirement

Metra is adding several daily train runs to its Rock Island District line starting Monday, June 1, the first step in schedule adjustments required by the Northern Illinois Transit Authority law that takes effect that 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. Those will become standard stops. Some stops have been dropped from some train runs 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 current schedule, which is more focused on 9-to-5 commuters. The NITA law requires that Metra implement regional rail service pilots on the Rock Island line

Derwinski said the pilot program will expand later this year to separate the Beverly branch line from the Rock Island’s mainline branch and improve the frequency of service to every 30 minutes, Derwinski said.

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

Looking further ahead, shortening the travel time to Joliet would require a substantial investment in a flyover over the Canadian National crossing that now creates a “bottleneck” near the far southwest suburbs, Derwinski said.

The agency expects to announce additional 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.