Union Pacific / North Line

Union Pacific / North Line
A southbound train departs Highland Park station
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Union Pacific Railroad
Locale	Chicago metropolitan area
Termini	Ogilvie Transportation Center Waukegan/Kenosha
Stations	27
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Union Pacific Railroad Metra
Daily ridership	41,000 (Avg. Weekday 2009)[1]
Ridership	2,300,363 (2020)
Technical
Line length	51.6 miles (83.0 km)[2]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
hide Route map Legend text show text Empire Builder to Seattle or Portland Lake Front Depot demolished 84.2 Milwaukee (1966-1971) Menomonee River Milwaukee River closed 83.0 Hiawatha and Empire Builder to Union Station 82.5 Kinnickinnic River 78.2 Cudahy closed 74.7 South Milwaukee closed 61.8 Racine closed Root River 51.6 Kenosha KD Line to Rockford Wisconsin Illinois 44.5 Winthrop Harbor 43.1 closed 42.1 Zion 39.9 closed 37.6 closed 35.9 Waukegan 34.0 Abbott's Platform closed 33.7 North Chicago Canadian National Railway 32.2 Great Lakes 30.2 Lake Bluff 28.3 Lake Forest 25.7 Fort Sheridan 24.5 Highwood 23.0 Highland Park 21.5 Ravinia 20.9 Ravinia Park 20.5 Braeside 19.2 Glencoe 17.7 Hubbard Woods 16.6 Winnetka 15.8 Indian Hill 15.2 Kenilworth 14.4 Wilmette 13.3 Evanston Central Street North Shore Channel 12.7 Weber Subdivision to Mayfair Purple to Linden 12.0 Evanston Davis Street 11.5 Dempster Street closed 11.0 Evanston Main Street 10.3 Calvary closed Purple to Howard or Loop Yellow 9.4 Rogers Park 8.4 closed 7.8 Rose Hill closed 7.1 closed 6.5 Ravenswood Brown to Kimball 6.2 closed 5.5 closed Brown to Loop 4.6 closed 3.5 closed Chicago River (north branch) UP-NW to Harvard or McHenry 2.8 Clybourn UP-W to Elburn Wells Street Station (1855-1911) MD-N NCS MD-W Green Pink 0.0 Ogilvie This diagram: view talk

The Union Pacific / North Line (UP-N) is a Metra line in the Chicago metropolitan area. It runs between Ogilvie Transportation Center and Kenosha, Wisconsin; however, most trains terminate in Waukegan, Illinois. Although Metra owns the rolling stock, the trains are operated and dispatched by the Union Pacific Railroad. This line was previously operated by the Chicago & North Western Railway before its merger with Union Pacific, and was called the Chicago and North Western Milwaukee Division and then the Chicago & North Western/North Line before the C&NW was absorbed by Union Pacific in April 1995. It is the only Metra line that travels outside Illinois.

Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, but the timetable accents for the Union Pacific/North line are dark "Flambeau Green," a nod to the C&NW's Flambeau 400 passenger train.^[3])

The current timetable has 35 weekday trains leaving Chicago, 17 of which terminate at Waukegan, 9 at Kenosha, 3 at Highland Park, 5 at Winnetka, 1 at North Chicago.

History[]

The route followed by the UP/North Line was constructed in 1854 by the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad.^[4] Passenger service between Chicago and Waukegan began on January 4, 1855. Initially, a single train operated each day, departing from a terminal in Chicago at Water St. and Kinzie St. at 8:30 am and returning from Waukegan at 3:30 pm.^[5][6] The president of the railroad, former Chicago mayor Walter S. Gurnee, speculated on land in Lake County spurring the development of railway suburbs along the line.^[7] The railroad merged with the Green Bay, Milwaukee & Chicago Railroad in 1863, and was acquired by the Chicago and North Western Railway in 1866.^[6][8] Commuter rail services along the line started operating into the new Chicago and North Western Terminal (now Ogilvie Transportation Center) in 1911. In 1966, the Chicago and North Western closed the Lake Front Depot and began operating into the new Milwaukee Union Station. This service would ultimately prove to be relatively short lived as the Chicago and North Western ended operations between Chicago and Milwaukee in 1971 and the line was truncated to Kenosha.

The North line became part of Metra when the agency was formed in 1984. The trains continued to be operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway under contract until that railroad was bought by Union Pacific in 1995. UP now operates passenger services along the line for Metra. Under a longstanding agreement that UP inherited from the C&NW, Metra owns the vehicles and the stations along the line, but Union Pacific employs the people who actually drive the trains, and they also control the right-of-way along the route.

All stations on the line except for Ravinia Park are open daily. Ravinia Park is only open during the Ravinia Festival in the summer months.

Ridership[]

Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined by 8.3% from 9,328,441 passengers to 8,552,117 passengers.^[9][10] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 2,300,363 passengers in 2020.^[11]

Route[]

The service uses the Union Pacific Railroad's Kenosha Subdivision between Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago and Kenosha, Wisconsin. The Kenosha Subdivision continues to St. Francis, Wisconsin and a junction with the Union Pacific's .^[12] No passenger trains operate north of Kenosha.

The Green Bay Trail parallels the Union Pacific / North Line, using the former right of way of the North Shore Line for over 51.9 miles (83.5 km) from Chicago Loop to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Stations[]

References[]

External links[]

Route map:

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Metra Union Pacific/North Line.

• Metra Union Pacific/North service schedule