Milwaukee District / North Line

The Milwaukee District / North Line (MD-N) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its northern suburbs. Although Metra does not refer to any of its lines by color, the timetable accents for the Milwaukee District / North line are pale "Hiawatha Orange" in honor of the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger trains.[2]

Milwaukee District / North Line
EMD F40PH #120 leads an outbound train at Deerfield
Overview
Owner	Metra (Dispatched primarily by CP south of Rondout)
Termini	Union Station Fox Lake
Stations	22
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Metra, CP (south of Rondout), and WSOR (between Rondout and Fox Lake)
Daily ridership	23,257 (Avg. Weekday 2014)[1]
Technical
Line length	49.7 miles (80.0 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map BScvt placeholder 73.6 mi 118.4 km Walworth closed 67.3 mi 108.3 km Zenda closed Wisconsin Illinois C&NW Northwest 57.5 mi 92.5 km Richmond proposed 55.8 mi 89.8 km Solon Mills proposed 53.8 mi 86.6 km Spring Grove proposed 49.4 mi 79.5 km Fox Lake 47.8 mi 76.9 km Ingleside 47.0 mi 75.6 km Wilson Road closed 46.1 mi 74.2 km Long Lake 44.2 mi 71.1 km Round Lake 41.0 mi 66 km Grayslake NCS 39.8 mi 64.1 km Prairie Crossing 35.5 mi 57.1 km Libertyville Des Plaines River Chicago River (north branch) Empire Builder to Seattle or Portland Hiawatha Service to Milwaukee North Shore Bike Path 32.3 mi 52 km Rondout closed Chicago River (north branch) 28.4 mi 45.7 km Lake Forest 24.6 mi 39.6 km Deerfield 23.4 mi 37.7 km Lake Cook Road 21.0 mi 33.8 km Northbrook 20.2 mi 32.5 km Techny closed 18.5 mi 29.8 km North Glenview 17.4 mi 28 km Glenview 15.4 mi 24.8 km Golf Chicago River (north branch) 14.6 mi 23.5 km Morton Grove 11.5 mi 18.5 km Edgebrook Chicago River (north branch) 10.2 mi 16.4 km Forest Glen Blue UP-NW 9.2 mi 14.8 km Mayfair 8.3 mi 13.4 km Grayland 7.5 mi 12.1 km Healy NCS to Antioch MD-W to Elgin Coach Yard 2.9 mi 4.7 km Western Avenue UP-W to Elburn Chicago 'L' Logan Square branch UP-N to Kenosha UP-NW to McHenry or Harvard Green Pink Ogilvie 0 mi Union Station BNSF to Aurora HC to Joliet SWS to Manhattan

The line utilizes the Canadian Pacific Railway's C&M Subdivision. From Rondout to Fox Lake, the line is single tracked, with the exception of Grayslake.

Operations

Metra is the primary user of the line, with commuter services operating between Union Station and Fox Lake. As of 2018, the public timetable shows 30 weekday departures to Chicago, with 18 running through to Fox Lake. Of the 12 trains not running to Fox Lake, six terminate at Deerfield, five at Grayslake, and one at Lake Forest. The public timetable also shows 30 trains heading in to Chicago of which 18 start at Fox Lake. Of the 12 that do not start at Fox Lake, seven start at Deerfield and five start at Grayslake. NCS train #120 is also shown on the timetable as it makes stops at Libertyville and Lake Forest. Metra operates a reduced schedule on weekends.[3] This service is supplemented by Amtrak, whose Empire Builder and Hiawatha Service inter-city trains stop at Union Station and Glenview. Metra began increased reverse-commute service on the North Line on March 4, 2019. This service is part of a pilot-program funded under a two-year, public-private partnership (P3).[4]

History

Before 1982, this line was operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). When the Milwaukee Road went bankrupt, the Regional Transportation Authority took over operation of the line. By 1984, the line passed to RTA's newly created Commuter Rail Division, which rebranded as Metra in 1985. Today this service is one of several Metra routes operated by Metra crews, but trains are dispatched, under contract, by the Canadian Pacific Railway, which bought the Milwaukee Road in 1986 along with the Soo Line in 1990 and runs freight service over parts of this route.

The Milwaukee District/North Line route and Metra's track ownership diverges from the Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis mainline at Rondout, Illinois and proceeds northwesterly toward Fox Lake. This secondary route, owned by Metra, was known as the Janesville Subdivision (J-Sub) of the Milwaukee Road. The mainline north of Rondout is owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)[5] through its American subsidiary Soo Line Railroad and sees Amtrak and freight traffic only. Metra service and track ownership ends at Fox Lake. The tracks beyond Fox Lake are owned by the State of Wisconsin and operated for freight service by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, a subsidiary of the Watco Companies. Commuter service beyond Fox Lake, abolished in 1982, served the communities of Spring Grove, Illinois, Solon Mills, Illinois, Zenda, Wisconsin, and Walworth, Wisconsin.[6]

Until 1984, there was a stop in Rondout. The station building itself was demolished in the mid-1960s. The station was located at Rondout Junction, where the line crosses the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway's tracks at a diamond junction.[7] Before 1982, service ran as far north as Walworth, Wisconsin.

There is also talk of constructing a second branch, running along the Canadian Pacific main line from Rondout north to Wadsworth and Kenosha County, Wisconsin.[8]

Ridership

Since 2014 annual ridership has declined from 7.2 million to 6.6 million, an overall decline of 8.7%.[9]

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Stations

State	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
WI		Walworth	Walworth	Closed October 1, 1982
		Zenda	Zenda	Closed October 1, 1982
IL		Richmond	Richmond	Proposed new stop
		Solon Mills	Solon Mills	Closed October 1, 1982
		Spring Grove	Spring Grove	Closed October 1, 1982
	J	Fox Lake	Fox Lake	Pace: 570, 806
		Ingleside	Ingleside	Pace: 570
		Long Lake	Wilson Road	Closed 1984[10]
			Long Lake
	I	Round Lake	Round Lake	Pace: 570
		Grayslake	Grayslake	Pace: 570
	H	Libertyville	Prairie Crossing	Metra: North Central Service
			Libertyville
	G	Rondout	Rondout	Closed 1984[10]
	F	Lake Forest	Lake Forest
	E	Deerfield	Deerfield	Pace: 471, 632
			Lake Cook Road	Pace: 626, 627, 631, 632, 633, 634, 635
		Northbrook	Northbrook	Pace: 422
		Techny	Techny	Closed
	D	Glenview	North Glenview	Pace: 423, 623
			Glenview	Amtrak: Empire Builder, Hiawatha Service Pace: 210, 422, 423
		Golf	Golf	Pace: 208, 210
	C	Morton Grove	Morton Grove	Pace: 210, 250
		Chicago	Edgebrook	CTA Bus: 84, 85A Pace: 225, 226
			Forest Glen	CTA Bus: 92
	B		Mayfair	Chicago "L": Blue Line (at Montrose) CTA Bus: 54, 54A, 78
			Grayland	CTA Bus: 56, 152
			Healy	CTA Bus: 53, 74
	A		Western Avenue	Metra: Milwaukee District / West Line, North Central Service CTA Bus: 49, X49, 65
			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 / West Line, North Central Service, Heritage Corridor, 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)

References

1. "Milwaukee District North Line Weekday Ridership". Regional Transportation Authority Mapping and Statistics (RTAMS). Retrieved 2016-07-21.
2. "Did you know?" (PDF). On the Bi-Level: 3. June 2009.
3. "Chicago to Fox Lake" (PDF). Metra. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
4. "Metra to begin reverse-commute service from Chicago to Lake County". Progressive Railroading. February 22, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
5. Metra Railfan Tips - Milwaukee District/North Line
6. Chicago's Lost Stations - Milwaukee Road Suburban Service; North Timetable (November 14, 1971)
7. Chicago's Lost Stations - Milwaukee Road Chicago-Fox Lake
9. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2018" (PDF). Metra. p. 4. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
10. Ridership Trends - Annual Report 2017 (PDF) (Report). Metra Division of Strategic Capital Planning. February 2018. p. 32. Retrieved December 2, 2018.

External links

• Metra Milwaukee District/North service schedule

Media related to Metra Milwaukee District/North Line at Wikimedia Commons