Milwaukee District West Line

Milwaukee District West Line
Milwaukee District West Line
	A Milwaukee District West train at Roselle in 2009.
Overview
Owner	Metra (Dispatched by Canadian Pacific Kansas City)
Termini	Chicago Union Station; Big Timber Road (weekdays); Elgin (weekends/holidays);
Stations	22
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Metra, CPKC Railway
Daily ridership	22,100 (Avg. Weekday 2009)
Ridership	2,302,491 (2023)
Technical
Line length	39.8 mi (64.1 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map
Route map
	Legend
	39.8 mi
	64.1 km
	36.6 mi
	58.9 km
	36.0 mi
	57.9 km
	30.1 mi
	48.4 km
	28.4 mi
	45.7 km
	26.5 mi
	42.6 km
	23.9 mi
	38.5 km
	23.0 mi
	37 km
	21.1 mi
	34 km
	19.1 mi
	30.7 km
	17.2 mi
	27.7 km
	14.0 mi
	22.5 km
	13.2 mi
	21.2 km
	IN Harbor Belt \| CN Railway
	NCS to Antioch
	11.4 mi
	18.3 km
	10.2 mi
	16.4 km
	9.5 mi
	15.3 km
	9.1 mi
	14.6 km
	8.6 mi
	13.8 km
	7.7 mi
	12.4 km
	7.0 mi
	11.3 km
	6.5 mi
	10.5 km
	5.9 mi
	9.5 km
	to Milwaukee, St. Paul,
	Seattle and Portland
	2.9 mi
	4.7 km
	Chicago "L"
	Logan Square branch
	to Harvard
	or McHenry
Key
	Mileage source All stations are accessible except Mannheim.
	This diagram: view; talk; edit;

The Milwaukee District West Line (MD-W) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. Metra does not refer to any of its lines by a particular color, but the timetable accents for the Milwaukee District West line are dark "Arrow Yellow," honoring the Milwaukee Road's Arrow passenger train.^[3] Trains are dispatched from the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway's American headquarters in Minneapolis.

The line runs from Chicago Union Station through the western suburbs to Elgin, Illinois. As of February 15, 2024, the public timetable shows 52 trains (26 in each direction) operating on weekdays. Of these, 19 inbound trains originate from Big Timber Road, three from Elgin, one from National Street, and three from Franklin Park. Three outbound trains terminate at Franklin Park, one at National Street, and the remainder terminate at Big Timber Road.

On weekends, Metra operates 12 roundtrips on Saturdays and nine on Sundays and holidays, all running from Union Station to Elgin. There is no weekend or holiday service to Big Timber Road.

The line runs on the CPKC Railway's Elgin Subdivision (ex-Milwaukee Road line to Omaha). In 1982, the Milwaukee Road Elgin Line was sold to the newly created Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Rail Corporation which ran commuter trains for the Milwaukee Road while the latter underwent reorganization. The Milwaukee Road retained ownership of the line until 1986. Metra formally purchased the Milwaukee District (the only other being Milwaukee District North) from the Soo Line Railroad (which took the bankrupt Milwaukee Road under its wing in 1985) in 1987. The Soo Line then ran freight trains on the line via trackage rights before its absorption into the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1990. CP Railway merged with the Kansas City Southern Railway in April 2023 into the Canadian Pacific Kansas City, or CPKC.

Metra has included the possibility of extending the Milwaukee District West Line along one of two routes in their Cost Benefit Analysis report. If this were to happen, the line could continue west via CPKC trackage to Hampshire, with an additional stop in Pingree Grove. Alternatively, the line could switch to the Union Pacific Railroad's Belvidere line (ex-Chicago & North Western line to Freeport) and travel northwest from Big Timber Road to Marengo, with additional stops in Gilberts, Huntley, and Union.^[4] In 2023, Governor J. B. Pritzker selected Metra to operate new intercity passenger rail beyond Big Timber Road to Rockford using the Milwaukee District West Line, with intermediate stops in Belvidere, Huntley, and at one of the three existing Metra stations in Elgin. The service would provide additional capacity to the existing line; introducing express reverse commute and expanded weekend options between Elgin and Union Station.^[5] The extension is scheduled to open in 2027, making it the first passenger rail service to connect Chicago and Rockford after the discontinuation of Amtrak's Black Hawk service in 1981.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Ridership

Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined 15% from 6,946,268 to 5,904,808.^[10]^[11] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 1,480,973 passengers in 2020.^[12]^[13]

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Rolling stock

The MD-W line's locomotive fleet consists of mainly MPI MP36PH-3C diesel-electric locomotives, with some EMD F40PH locomotives. The line also operates ex-GO Transit EMD F59PH locomotives. The fleet is pooled with the fleets for the North Central Service and the Milwaukee District North Line. As of 2016, three of these locomotives are in operation.

Coaches, or passenger railcars, consist mostly of Nippon Sharyo railcars built in the early 2000s. Cab cars are Nippon Sharyo built. Budd-built railcars also operate on the line, but the cab cars built by Budd have not been in use since the delivery of the newer railcars.

Stations

County	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
Kane	4	Elgin	Big Timber Road	Pace: 550
			Elgin	Pace: 541, 542, 543, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 552, 554, 603, 801
			National Street	Pace: 546, 801
Cook
		Elgin/Bartlett	Spaulding	Closed 1971
	4	Bartlett	Bartlett
DuPage/ Cook		Hanover Park	Hanover Park	Pace: 554 Formerly called Ontarioville
DuPage/ Cook		Schaumburg	Schaumburg
DuPage		Roselle	Roselle
	3	Medinah	Medinah
		Itasca	Itasca
		Wood Dale	Wood Dale
		Bensenville	Bensenville	Pace: 319, 332
Cook	2	Franklin Park	Mannheim	Pace: 319, 330
		Franklin Park	Franklin Park	Pace: 303, 319
		River Grove	River Grove	Metra: ■ North Central Service Pace: 319, 331
		Elmwood Park	Elmwood Park	Pace: 319
		Chicago	Mont Clare	CTA Bus: 65, 74
			Mars
			Galewood	CTA Bus: 86
			Hanson Park	CTA Bus: 65, 85
			Cragin	Closed in 2006, replaced by Grand/Cicero
			Grand/Cicero	CTA Bus: 54, 65, 73
			Hermosa	Closed in 2006, replaced by Grand/Cicero
			Western Avenue	Metra: ■ Milwaukee District North, ■ North Central Service CTA Bus: 49, X49, 65
			Ashland–Ogden	Proposed station; to open in 2032^[14]
	1		Union Station	Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Cardinal, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Floridian, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle Amtrak (intercity): Blue Water, Borealis, Hiawatha, Illini and Saluki, Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, Lincoln Service, Pere Marquette, Wolverine Metra: ■ BNSF, ■ Heritage Corridor, ■ Milwaukee District North, ■ North Central Service, ■ SouthWest Service Chicago "L": Blue (at Clinton), Brown Orange Pink Purple (at Quincy) CTA Bus: 1, 7, J14, 19, 28, 56, 60, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 151, 156, 157, 192 Pace Bus: 755 Amtrak Thruway: Chicago–Madison and Chicago–Rockford (Van Galder), Chicago–Louisville (Greyhound)