Union Pacific West Line

Union Pacific West Line
A Metra train at Geneva
Overview
Owner	Union Pacific Railroad (Leased to Metra)
Termini	Ogilvie Transportation Center Elburn
Stations	19
Website	metra.com/train-lines/up-w
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Metra
Daily ridership	27,196 (avg. weekday 2014) [1]
Ridership	3,285,005 (2023)
Technical
Line length	43.8 miles [2]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map Union Pacific West Line highlighted in pink Show interactive map Legend Union Pacific Railroad 43.6 mi 70.2 km Elburn Elburn yard 40.9 mi 65.8 km La Fox AE&FRE to Elgin CA&E to St. Charles 38.1 mi 61.3 km St. Charles 35.3 mi 56.8 km Geneva AE&FRE to Aurora CA&E to Wheaton Fox River Fox River Trail Freeport Branch Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Rwy 29.8 mi 48 km West Chicago DuPage River (West Branch) 27.5 mi 44.3 km Winfield Illinois Prairie Path/ CA&E 25.0 mi 40.2 km Wheaton 23.8 mi 38.3 km College Avenue 22.4 mi 36 km Glen Ellyn DuPage River (East Branch) I-355 19.9 mi 32 km Lombard Great Western Trail 17.8 mi 28.6 km Villa Park Salt Creek Trail IC West Line to Addison Salt Creek IC West Line to Randolph Street 15.7 mi 25.3 km Elmhurst Union Pacific Railroad I-290 I-294 14.3 mi 23 km Berkeley 12.6 mi 20.3 km Bellwood Addison Creek to Proviso Yard Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad 11.3 mi 18.2 km Melrose Park 10.5 mi 16.9 km Maywood Des Plaines River 9.7 mi 15.6 km River Forest Canadian National Railway 9.1 mi 14.6 km Lathrop Avenue 8.5 mi 13.7 km Harlem/​Lake │ Oak Park 8.2 mi 13.2 km Avenue 7.7 mi 12.4 km Ridgeland 7.2 mi 11.6 km Austin Boulevard 6.7 mi 10.8 km Austin Green to Ashland/​63rd and Cottage Grove Belt Railway of Chicago 4.8 mi 7.7 km Keeler (employees only) 3.6 mi 5.8 km Kedzie California Ave. coach yard Western Ave. Corridor Chicago "L" Logan Square branch I-90  / I-94 Blue to O'Hare to Harvard or McHenry to Kenosha Chicago River (north branch) Wells Street Station Green Pink 0 mi Ogilvie Blue to Forest Park to Chicago Union Station Key Union Pacific West Line Former route alignment Other Metra lines Metra Milwaukee District lines Other freight lines CTA lines Former CTA lines/interurbans Mileage source [3] All stations are accessible except Kedzie and River Forest. This diagram: view talk edit Show BSicon diagram map

The Union Pacific West Line (UP-W) is a Metra commuter rail line operated by Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago, Illinois and its western suburbs. Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, but the timetable accents for the Union Pacific West line are "Kate Shelley Rose" pink, honoring an Iowa woman who saved a Chicago & North Western Railway train from disaster in 1881. Green and yellow were already selected for the Union Pacific North Line and Union Pacific Northwest Line, respectively, so pink was chosen for this line. Therefore, the UP-W is the only Metra line that uses a color to honor a person instead of a fallen flag railroad. ^[4] Until the late 1940s the line had a branch to Freeport, Illinois. It diverged from the main line at West Chicago and had stations at Elgin, Marengo, Belvidere, Rockford, Freeport, and other communities. The line was once known as the Chicago & Northwestern/West Line until UP took over the C&NW in 1995. All Metra trains on this line terminated at Geneva until 2006, when the line was extended to its present terminus in Elburn. The line runs as part of the Union Pacific Railroad's Geneva Subdivision (ex-C&NW line to Clinton, Iowa).

The line runs from the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago through the western suburbs to Elburn. This is the oldest railway route built from Chicago, the route of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad along Kinzie Street.

As of February 16, 2024, Metra operates 58 trains (29 in each direction) on the Union Pacific West Line on weekdays. Of these, 23 inbound trains originate from Elburn, two from La Fox, three from Geneva, and one from West Chicago. Two outbound trains terminate at Geneva, three at La Fox, and the remaining 24 terminate at Elburn.

On weekends, all trains run the full route to Elburn, with Metra operating 10 roundtrip trains on Saturday and nine on Sundays and holidays.

Union Pacific is building a third track from West Chicago through all of Geneva. The project started in September 2022 and is expected to be finished in July 2024. The improvements are designed to ensure smoother traffic flow and reduce conflicts between commuter and freight trains. ^[5]

Beginning in 2023, the Union Pacific Railroad announced that commuter operations on all three of the Union Pacific lines would be transferred to Metra; the Union Pacific would continue to own and maintain the right-of-way. ^{[6] [7]} The transfer was initially expected to occur by Q1 2024; ^[8] however, it was delayed by a year to May 16, 2025. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Ridership

Since 2014 annual ridership has declined from 8,423,188 to 7,883,185, an overall decline of 6.4%. ^{[12] [13]} Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 1,945,886 passengers in 2020 and to 1,486,536 passengers in 2021. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

1,000,000

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Station stops

County	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
Kane	4	Elburn	Elburn	Huskie Line: 12
		La Fox	La Fox
		St. Charles	St. Charles	St. Charles branch
	4	Geneva	Geneva	Pace: 801, 802
DuPage		West Chicago	West Chicago
		Winfield	Winfield
		Wheaton	Wheaton	Pace: 301, 711, 714
			College Avenue	Pace: 714
		Glen Ellyn	Glen Ellyn	Pace: 715
	3	Lombard	Lombard
		Villa Park	Villa Park
		Elmhurst	Elmhurst	Pace: 309, 332
Cook	2	Berkeley	Berkeley	Formerly named Proviso
		Bellwood	Bellwood	Pace: 313, 330
		Melrose Park	Melrose Park	Pace: 303, 309, 313
		Maywood	Maywood	Pace: 309, 313, 331
		River Forest	River Forest	Pace: 309, 313
			Lathrop	Closed December 1, 1958
		Oak Park	Oak Park	Chicago "L": Green (at Harlem/​Lake) CTA Bus: 90 Pace: 307, 309, 313, 318, 770
			Avenue	Closed December 1, 1958
			Ridgeland	Closed December 1, 1958
			Austin Boulevard	Closed December 1, 1958
		Chicago	Austin	Closed December 1, 1958
			Keeler	Employee only stop, serves adjacent maintenance facility
	2		Kedzie	Chicago "L": Green (at Kedzie) CTA Bus: 52
	1		Ogilvie Transportation Center	Metra: ■  Union Pacific Northwest, ■  Union Pacific North Chicago "L": Green Pink (at Clinton) CTA Bus: J14, 19, 56, 60, 120, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 157, 192

Freeport Branch

This branch line ran from West Chicago to Freeport, Illinois. Service was discontinued in the late 1940s. Metra is planning to revive service from Big Timber Road to Rockford on this line, stopping in Huntley and Belvidere, but there are no plans to restore passenger service south of Elgin.

County	Location	Station	Connections
Stephenson	Freeport	Freeport	Illinois Central trains
	Ridott	Ridott
Winnebago	Pecatonica	Pecatonica
	Winnebago	Winnebago
	Rockford	Rockford	KD Line
		East Rockford
	Cherry Valley	Cherry Valley
Boone	Belvidere	Belvidere	Trains to Spring Valley and Janesville
	Garden Prairie	Garden Prairie
McHenry	Marengo	Marengo
	Union	Union	Illinois Railway Museum
	Huntley	Huntley
Kane	Gilberts	Gilberts
	Elgin	Elgin (West Side)	Trains to Crystal Lake, Milwaukee Road trains
	South Elgin	South Elgin
DuPage	Wayne	Wayne

References

1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
2. Metra Railfan Tips - Union Pacific/West
3. 2020 State of the System Report (p. 72)
4. "Did you know?" (PDF). On the Bi-Level: 3. June 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-02.
5. "Union Pacific Third Main Line Project | Geneva, IL - Official Website".
6. "Union Pacific announces start of transition of Chicago commuter rail operations to Metra". Trains. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
7. "Union Pacific Transferring Commuter Rail Services to Metra". Union Pacific Railroad. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
8. Studenkov, Igor (25 October 2024). "Metra and Union Pacific make progress on operations transfer; fate of stations to be decided". Evanston RoundTable. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
9. "Metra assumes operation of trains on UP commuter lines". Trains. 19 May 2025. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
10. Hirsh, Jeff (19 May 2025). "Metra completes takeover of UP commuter line operations". Evanston Now. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
11. "UP lines now being operated directly by Metra". Metra. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
12. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2018" (PDF). Metra. p. 4. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
13. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2019" (PDF). Metra. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
14. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2020" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
15. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2021" (PDF).
16. RTAMS. "Metra Ridership by Line".

External links

Template:Attached KML/Union Pacific / West Line

KML is from Wikidata

• Metra Union Pacific/West service schedule

Media related to Metra Union Pacific/West Line at Wikimedia Commons