Rock Island District

The Rock Island District (RI) is a Metra commuter rail line from Chicago, Illinois, southwest to Joliet. Metra does not refer to its lines by color, but the timetable accents for the Rock Island District line are "Rocket Red". This refers to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad's Rocket passenger trains.[2]

Rock Island District
Rock Island trains at LaSalle.
Overview
Owner	Metra (LaSalle Street Station to Blue Island) CSX (South of Blue Island)
Termini	LaSalle Street Station Joliet
Stations	26
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Metra, CSX, Iowa Interstate Railroad, Chicago Rail Link
Daily ridership	32,100 (Avg. Weekday 2009)[1]
Technical
Line length	40.2 mi (64.7 km) 6.7 mi (10.8 km) Suburban Branch (Gresham Jct.—Blue Island)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map 0.0 LaSalle Street Red to Howard St. Charles Air Line IC West to Addison IC West to Randolph Street Green Orange to Loop Orange to Midway 3.1 mi 5 km 35th Street Stock Yards branch Green to Ashland/63rd Amtrak Calumet to Union Station Amtrak Calumet to Valparaiso 6.7 mi 10.8 km Englewood closed I-90 / I-94 Red to 95th/Dan Ryan 7.2 mi 11.6 km Normal Park closed 7.8 mi 12.6 km Hamilton Park closed 8.6 mi 13.8 km Auburn Park closed 9.8 mi 15.8 km Gresham Brainerd 10.6 mi 17.1 km SouthEast Service 91st Street–Beverly Hills 11.3 mi 18.2 km 95th Street–Beverly Hills 11.7 mi 18.8 km 10.9 mi 17.5 km 95th Street–Longwood 99th Street–Beverly Hills 12.3 mi 19.8 km 11.4 mi 18.3 km 99th Street–Longwood closed 103rd Street–Beverly Hills 12.8 mi 20.6 km 107th Street–Beverly Hills 13.3 mi 21.4 km 12.0 mi 19.3 km Washington Heights 111th Street–Morgan Park 13.8 mi 22.2 km 115th Street–Morgan Park 14.3 mi 23 km 12.9 mi 20.8 km Givins closed 119th Street 14.8 mi 23.8 km 123rd Street 15.2 mi 24.5 km ME to Millennium Station Prairie Street 15.9 mi 25.6 km ME Blue Island 16.4 mi 26.4 km Blue Island–Vermont Street 17.2 mi 27.7 km Robbins 18.4 mi 29.6 km Midlothian 20.4 mi 32.8 km Oak Forest 23.5 mi 37.8 km Tinley Park 25.1 mi 40.4 km Tinley Park – 80th Avenue 27.2 mi 43.8 km Mokena – Hickory Creek 29.6 mi 47.6 km Mokena – Front Street SWS to Union Station SWS to Manhattan HC & Amtrak to Union Station 34.0 mi 54.7 km New Lenox 40.2 mi 64.7 km Joliet Amtrak to St. Louis & Los Angeles

History

The Suburban Line was built in 1870 as a steam dummy line, splitting from the main line just north of 99th Street, running west along 99th and turning south to the present line at the S-curve just south of 99th. The crossing of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway midway along 99th was known as Dummy Crossing. In the early 1890s the line was extended north to 89th Street in conjunction with the expansion of the Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad, and the portion on 99th was removed.

The track is owned by Metra, bought from the bankrupt Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad for $35 million in December 1982. The Regional Transportation Authority had signed a contract with the Rock Island in 1976 to fund service, and in 1980 the Chicago and North Western Railway began operating the Rock Island District. In spring 1981 the C&NW stepped away, and the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation (Metra) was formed to take over operations. Through freight trains on the line are operated by CSX and Iowa Interstate Railroad on a trackage rights agreement. In addition, Chicago Rail Link has rights to operate local freight service on the whole district, and it also uses the line between Gresham Wye and Blue Island to connect with the Iowa Interstate and Indiana Harbor Belt Railroads.

A new station at 35th Street and Federal Street opened on April 3, 2011 to serve U.S. Cellular Field and the Illinois Institute of Technology. It was named 35th Street/'Lou' Jones/Bronzeville Station after Lovana Jones who was an Illinois State Representative in the Bronzeville neighborhood.[3]

The Englewood Flyover, an overpass located in the Chicago neighborhood of Englewood, eliminated delays for the Rock Island. The overpass replaced a diamond crossing with the Norfolk Southern's Chicago Line.[4] The overpass proposed by Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE), which cost $142 million to construct, was completed in October 2014.[5]

In recent years, Metra has expressed a desire to electrify and modernize the line if funding became available.[6]

Service

The February 2018 timetable shows 33 trains out of Chicago each weekday, of which 9 terminate at Blue Island, 23 at Joliet, and 1 at Tinley Park. Originally the train that terminates at Tinley Park terminated at New Lenox. The February 2018 timetable also shows 34 weekday trains in to Chicago of which 22 start at Joliet. The remaining 12 start at Blue Island-Vermont Street. Weekend express trains run through to Joliet, while weekend local trains make a short run to Blue Island. A few locals however, run down to Joliet.

The Rock Island District consists of the former Rock Island main line to Joliet and the slightly longer Suburban Line that loops to the west between Gresham and Blue Island. Most trains use the latter; the two stations on that part of the main line are served only during rush hour and during weekend express operations.

In June 2015, Metra began weekend express service on the Rock Island District. The six express trains that operate on both Saturday and Sunday run express from 35th Street to Blue Island-Vermont Street before making all stops to Joliet, bypassing the entire Beverly branch. Local trains run as well, making all stops on the Beverly branch and terminating at Blue Island-Vermont Street. This cuts about 20 minutes off the trips from Blue Island to downtown.[7] On August 23, 2015, Metra announced that the weekend express service would become permanent upon completion of the trial period on November 29, 2015.

The Rock Island District runs a few empty equipment move (deadhead) trains, most during the weekdays. Inbound deadheads are scheduled between the Joliet, Mokena-Front Street, and Tinley Park stations and run to Blue Island-Vermont Street.

There are proposals to extend the line from Joliet to LaSalle-Peru in LaSalle County with intermediate stations at Rockdale, Minooka, Morris, Seneca, Marseilles, Ottawa and several others. A feasibility study was completed in 2003.[8][9]

After the passage of the Rebuild Illinois, $20 million was allocated for the long planned construction of a new Auburn Park station. Construction is expected to start in 2020.[10]

Ridership

Since 2014 annual ridership has declined from 8.5 million to 7.5 million, an overall decline of 11.3%.[11]

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

9,000,000

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Stations

Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
A	Chicago	LaSalle Street	Chicago "L": Blue Line (at LaSalle), Brown, Orange, Pink, Purple Line lines (at LaSalle/Van Buren) CTA Bus: 1, 7, 22, 24, 36, 126, 130, 151, 156 ChicaGo Dash
		35th Street (flag stop)[12]	Chicago "L": Red Line (at Sox–35th), Green Line (at 35th–Bronzeville–IIT) CTA Bus: 24, 31, 35, 39 Pace: 773, 774, 775
B		Englewood	Closed late 1970s
		Normal Park	Closed
		Hamilton Park	Closed
		Auburn Park	Closed, planned to reopen
		Gresham	CTA Bus: 8A, 24, 87, N87
C		Brainerd	CTA Bus: 9
		91st Street – Beverly Hills
		95th Street – Beverly Hills	CTA Bus: 95 Pace: 381, 395
		95th Street–Longwood (rush hours only)	CTA Bus: N9, 95, 112 Pace: 381, 395
		99th Street–Longwood	Closed 1985[13]
		99th Street – Beverly Hills
		103rd Street – Beverly Hills	CTA Bus: 103
		107th Street – Beverly Hills
		Washington Heights (rush hours only)	CTA Bus: 9, 103, 112
		Givins	Closed 1984[13]
		111th Street – Morgan Park	CTA Bus: 112
		115th Street – Morgan Park
	Blue Island	119th Street	CTA Bus: 119
D		123rd Street (flag stop)
		Prairie Street (flag stop)
		Blue Island–Vermont Street	Metra: Metra Electric District (at Blue Island) Pace: 348, 349, 359, 385
	Robbins	Robbins (flag stop)	Pace: 359
	Midlothian	Midlothian	Pace: 354
E	Oak Forest	Oak Forest	Pace: 354, 364, 383
	Tinley Park	Tinley Park	Pace: 386
		Tinley Park – 80th Avenue
F	Mokena	Mokena – Hickory Creek
		Mokena – Front Street
G	New Lenox	New Lenox
H	Joliet	Joliet	Metra: Heritage Corridor Amtrak: Lincoln Service, Texas Eagle Pace: 501, 504, 505, 507, 508, 509, 511, 832, 834

See also

• Beverly/Morgan Railroad District

References

1. "Ridership Reports - System Facts". Metra. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
2. "Did you know?" (PDF). On the Bi-Level: 3. June 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-02.
3. Metra. "Metra to open new station at 35th St. in time for White Sox home opener". Archived from the original on 2011-03-14. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
4. "P1 63rd and State (Englewood) Flyover" (PDF). CREATE. October 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
5. Wronski, Richard (October 23, 2014). "'Flyover' aimed at cutting rail congestion". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
6. Lassen, David (January 7, 2019). "Metra's big 'ask:' a $5 billion plan for improvements". Trains Magazine. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
7. Sullivan, Dennis (May 28, 2015). "Weekend express trains starting on Rock Island Line". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
8. Illinois Valley Commuter Rail Feasibility Study (PDF) (Report). CTE Engineers, LTK Engineering Services. August 2003. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
9. O'Brien, Ken (January 24, 2002). "Will panel endorses extension of Metra". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
10. Freund, Sara (August 12, 2019). "Construction on two Metra stations starts up again after state funding kicks in". Curbed. Retrieved January 10, 2020.
11. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2018" (PDF). Metra. p. 4. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-04-10. Retrieved 2011-04-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Bronzeville Jones Station Page
13. Ridership Trends - Annual Report 2017 (PDF) (Report). Metra Division of Strategic Capital Planning. February 2018. p. 32. Retrieved December 2, 2018.

• J. David Ingles, Metra: "Best Commuter Train", Trains July 1993

External links

• Metra / Rock Island schedules

Media related to Metra Rock Island District at Wikimedia Commons