Happy 40th Birthday, Metra!

(Image Courtesy of Metra)

Chicago’s Metra on June 3 kicked off its 40th anniversary celebration with a week of activities, including a free weekend for riders June 8-9, as well as a special edition of its quarterly magazine.

Metra serves the residents, visitors and businesses of Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties in northeastern Illinois, with a system that spans more than 500 route miles, 11 rail lines and 243 stations.

The nation’s fourth busiest commuter rail system marks June 8 as its birthday; on that date in 1984, the first Board meeting was held for the newly formed Commuter Rail Division, created a year earlier by officials in Springfield, the capital city of Illinois, as part of a reform of the Regional Transportation Authority. That Board adopted the “Metra” name in 1985 to unify “all the disparate parts that made and still make up” the Chicagoland commuter rail system, according to Metra.

The railroad brought together the historic lines of Metra Electric, Rock Island, Southwest Service, Heritage Corridor, BNSF, North Central Service, Milwaukee Road, Milwaukee District West, Milwaukee District North, Chicago & North Western, Union Pacific (UP) North, Union Pacific Northwest, and Union Pacific West (see Metra’s special anniversary magazine for more on its history). The BNSF and UP lines are still run by those freight railroads.

Activities in celebration of Metra’s 40th birthday include:

• Monday, June 3: Metra will ask its riders to share their favorite memories about riding Metra on social media.
• Tuesday, June 4: Customer Appreciation Day­—Metra will hand out a gift, including coupons from local businesses, to riders at downtown stations while supplies last.
• Wednesday, June 5: Metra will ask “travel buddies” to share photos of themselves on social media.
• Thursday, June 6: Metra’s “Throwback Thursday” will include ’80s trivia on social media.
• Friday, June 7: Metra will ask riders to share their favorite travel destinations on social media.
• Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9: Travel on Metra will be free for all riders.

Additionally, Metra said it has created “a museum in a railcar” that will travel to downtown stations this summer. This specially equipped railcar “filled with interesting items from the history of Metra and its predecessor railroads,” will debut at LaSalle Street Station on June 8; it will also be open at the Ogilvie Transportation Center on June 22, Chicago Union Station on July 6, and Millennium Station on July 20.

“We’ve come a long way in the 40 years since Metra was born, and we are so very grateful that you’ve joined us for this journey,” wrote Metra CEO/Executive Director James M. Derwinski in the railroad’s special anniversary magazine. “Together, we’ve seen major changes in the last four decades. We inherited a threadbare system from private railroads, and with the aid of taxpayers and our loyal customers, we rebuilt and replaced downtown stations, outlying stations, tracks and signals, and other infrastructure. We bought new locomotives and new railcars. We modernized and stabilized and standardized service across the region, and even expanded it. We survived underground floods, polar vortexes and global pandemics. We provided hundreds of millions of rides. And we gained a reputation for timeliness, reliability and safety that is second to none. We know there is more work to do, and we have no intention of resting on our laurels. But like anyone else turning 40, we’ll take a moment to reflect on what we’ve accomplished so far while acknowledging that we’re not done yet. Just as Springfield was responsible for the birth of Metra, Springfield will have a large say in deciding what comes next. The funding model that our region used for decades no longer works in the new post-COVID world. Will Illinois now provide additional subsidies, and if so, how? What changes will be made, if any, to how public transit is governed? What other changes might also happen? Those are the questions that our state lawmakers will be tackling in the coming months. For Metra, we will continue to demonstrate our value to the region. We will remain the most affordable, safest, most reliable, most comfortable, most relaxing option to get around. With the right funding, we can expand our service to be more useful to more regional residents.”

In its special anniversary magazine, Metra also offered a first look at its future with the recent purchase of zero-emission, battery-powered trainsets (see above). The commuter railroad’s contract with Stadler U.S. of Salt Lake City, Utah, includes a $154 million base order for eight two-car sets, including engineering, training, and spare parts, with options costing up to an additional $181.4 million for eight more sets and up to 32 trailer cars, which could be added to the two-car sets to create three- or four-car sets. The first trainsets are expected to be delivered in 2027-28.

“Whether you have been riding Metra for 40 years or took your first ride today, we want to thank you,” said Jim Derwinski during the announcement of the railroad’s anniversary. “And as we look to the past and celebrate four decades of serving the Chicago area’s transportation needs, we are also looking to the future and making plans to continue that service for many more decades.”

Railway Age readers named Derwinski one of 10 Most Influential Leaders for 2021.