How Metra named its 14 suburban commuter rail lines made little sense.
Its two “Milwaukee” lines don’t go to the Wisconsin city — and are instead named after the Milwaukee Road the lines once used. The Metra Electric line is named after the type of locomotive pulling the trains. And its three Union Pacific lines are named after the freight company that will soon no longer operate the line’s trains.
Metra on Monday acknowledged the confusion and began a public outreach effort that could potentially rename all of its lines by number or direction. For example, naming them M1 to M14 — with the “M” standing for Metra. Or naming them by their cardinal direction: N1, W1 and S1.
The stated goal is to simplify line names that can be challenging to non-native English speakers or the many people who use the lines infrequently. Metra said 4 in 10 customers take Metra only once a year. Seven in 10 ride once a month or less.
Michael Grady, 79, rides the Union Pacific-North line from Wilmette once a week to a Spanish class on Ohio Street. He said the renaming makes sense.
“That seems simple,” Grady said of the proposal. “But I couldn’t tell you what the present names are.”
The renaming project was inspired by Metra’s impending ownership of the Union Pacific lines, Metra said. The three lines terminating at Ogilvie Station have been operated by Union Pacific for years. But Metra said the freight line no longer wants to operate commuter trains, so Metra is taking over the job this spring.
As part of that transition, Metra said it wants to rename those lines, and possibly all others with new signs that could be completed as soon as 2029.
“Renaming the three UP lines presents Metra with an opportunity to reconsider all its line names, which follow no logical or consistent pattern,” Metra said in a news release.”Many are named after freight railroads that used to or still operate the service, while some are named for directions, or how trains are powered, or their location in a historic corridor.”
Metra said it is considering three options over the next year:
Rename the three Union Pacfic lines but not the others.Rename all lines M1, M2, M3 etc., with all lines using the same color.Naming lines after their general cardinal direction, paired with a number. For example, N1, N2, N3 for northbound trains; W1, W2, W3 for westbound trains; and S1, S2, S3 for southbound trains. Lines would be share colors representing the downtown station they terminate at.
Metra is seeking public feedback through an online survey found at metra.com/LineNames.
The agency is holding outreach events the afternoons of Tuesday at Union Station, Wednesday at Ogilvie Station, and Thursday at Millennium and La Salle Street stations.
Some midday commuters at Ogilvie Station said Monday afternoon the line names could be simplified. Some commuters had a tough time naming the line they had commuted in on that morning. Two commuters said they identify their trains by the listed destination, not the line name.
Shirley Forpe said the renaming effort is “just a silly thing,” and joked that Metra could instead hire more employees to help people at stations. She rides Metra from Palatine two or three times a month for business meetings in Chicago.
Angelette Smith, 46, said she once missed a UP-Northwest train because she misunderstood a Metra timetable.
“It would be easier,” Smith said of the directional renaming proposal.
The renaming initiative comes as state lawmakers consider bills that could radically restructure Metra’s relationship with the region’s three other transit agencies: CTA, Pace and the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees them all.
The four agencies face a combined $700 million-plus yearly shortfall starting next year after federal COVID19-era relief funds run dry. Lawmakers have said there would be no increased funding without reform.
Metra said it is in the early stages of a systemwide effort to replace all of its system’s signs. “It makes practical and economic sense to also consider changing the line names as part of this effort,” Metra said in the news release.