Heritage Corridor

The Heritage Corridor (HC) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its southwestern suburbs, terminating in Joliet. While Metra does not refer to its lines by colors, the Heritage Corridor appears on Metra timetables as "Alton Maroon," after the Alton Railroad, which ran trains on this route.[2] The name Heritage Corridor refers to the Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor. Established in 1984, it runs parallel to the line.[3]

Heritage Corridor
Overview
Owner	Canadian National
Termini	Chicago Joliet
Stations	7
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Metra, Canadian National
Daily ridership	2,400 (Avg. Weekday 2016)[1]
Technical
Line length	37.3 mi (60.0 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map NCS to Antioch MD-W to Big Timber Road MD-N to Fox Lake 0.0 Union Station Blue BNSF to Aurora Chicago River SWS to Manhattan IC West Line to Randolph Street Station Orange to Loop 2.6 mi 4.2 km Halsted Street closed Bubbly Creek IC West Line to Addison Orange to Midway 5.2 mi 8.4 km Brighton Park closed 10.3 mi 16.6 km Glenn closed 11.9 mi 19.2 km Summit 17.5 mi 28.2 km Willow Springs Calumet Sag Channel 25.3 mi 40.7 km Lemont 29.8 mi 48 km Romeoville 31.7 mi 51 km 5th Street closed 32.9 mi 52.9 km Lockport RI to LaSalle Street 37.2 mi 59.9 km Joliet Amtrak to St. Louis & Los Angeles

Unlike other Metra lines, the Heritage Corridor runs during weekday rush hours only in the peak direction–to Chicago in the morning and Joilet in the afternoon. The Heritage Corridor Line takes less than 1 hour to reach Joliet, significantly faster than the Rock Island District Line which also serves Joliet.

A fourth outbound train was added on March 14, 2016. Now seven trains run on the Heritage Corridor, three of them inbound, four outbound. All trains run through to (and start at) Joliet.

Route

The line runs from Union Station in downtown Chicago through southwestern suburbs to Joliet. In March 2016, the public timetable shows four Chicago to Joliet trains each weekday. An additional train runs inbound during the afternoon rush hour but as an empty equipment move or deadhead.

Amtrak's Texas Eagle and Lincoln Service use these tracks from Union Station to Joliet. The Texas Eagle only stops at Chicago and Joliet, while the Lincoln Service also stops at Summit. The Joliet Transportation Center replaced Joliet Union Station on April 11, 2018.[4]

On May 16, 2017, Metra announced that the new station for Romeoville had officially broken ground near the intersection of 135th St and New Avenue. The cost of the new station is estimated to be around $4.9 million.[5] The station was opened to the public on February 5, 2018.[6]

There are proposals to add more intermediate stations on the line at Bridgeport, Brighton Park, and Justice, as well as an extension to Braidwood, Illinois with stations at Elwood and Wilmington.

Stations

Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
A	Chicago	Union Station	Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Capitol Limited, Cardinal, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle Amtrak (intercity): Blue Water, Hiawatha Service, Illini and Saluki, Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, Lincoln Service, Pere Marquette, Wolverine Metra: BNSF Railway, Milwaukee District / North Line, Milwaukee District / West Line, North Central Service, SouthWest Service Chicago "L": Blue Line (at Clinton), Brown, Orange, Pink, Purple lines (at Quincy) CTA Bus: 1, 7, J14, 19, 28, 56, 60, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 151, 156, 157, 192 Pace: 755 Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach: Chicago-Madison and Chicago-Rockford (Van Galder), Chicago-Louisville (Greyhound)
		Halsted Street	Closed 1984[7]
		Brighton Park	Closed 1984[7]
	Central Stickney	Glenn	Closed 1989[7]
C	Summit	Summit	Amtrak: Lincoln Service Pace: 307
D	Willow Springs	Willow Springs
E	Lemont	Lemont
F	Romeoville	Romeoville	Opened February 5, 2018[6]
	Lockport	5th Street	Closed 1988[7]
G		Lockport	Pace: 834
H	Joliet	Joliet	Metra: Rock Island District Amtrak: Lincoln Service, Texas Eagle Pace: 501, 504, 505, 507, 508, 509, 511, 832, 834

Ridership

Since 2014 annual ridership has remained steady at roughly 730,000.[8]

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Notes

1. "Operations and Ridership Data". Metra. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
2. "Did you know?" (PDF). On the Bi-Level: 3. June 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-02.
3. Baty (2004), 237-238.
4. Fabbre, Alicia (April 11, 2018). "New train station opens for commuters in Joliet, ending a six-year wait". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
5. https://www.metrarail.com/about-metra/newsroom/romeoville-breaks-ground-new-metra-station
6. "Romeoville Metra station opens – Bugle Newspapers". buglenewspapers.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
7. Ridership Trends - Annual Report 2017 (PDF) (Report). Metra Division of Strategic Capital Planning. February 2018. p. 32. Retrieved December 2, 2018.
8. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2018" (PDF). Metra. p. 4. Retrieved 12 May 2019.

References

• Baty, Chris (2004). Chicago. Lonely Planet. ISBN 1-74104-032-9.

External links

• Heritage Corridor service schedule