(The following report appeared at NBC5.com on July 10.)
CHICAGO — Proposed improvements along Metra’s Union Pacific West line might benefit Burlington Northern Santa Fe commuters as well.
“The project is meant to improve the capacity of the Union Pacific West line, expand the schedule and add more express service,” said Patrick Waldron, spokesman for Metra.
More service on the UP West could translate to less crowded commutes for riders of the BNSF.
“At this stage we just don’t know to what extent,” said Carmen Carruthers, transportation and planning operations manager for the city of Naperville.
While the city doesn’t know how large of an impact the improvements will have, Carruthers said it is planning to study the information. A city staff member will be attending the public meetings held this week on the UP West improvements, she said.
The UP West line, which runs north of the BNSF line, travels between Elburn and Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center, including stops at Glen Ellyn, Wheaton, Winfield, West Chicago and Geneva. Metra is proposing to increase the number of trains on the line from 59 to 80 per day. In addition, the express trains are slated to increase from 20 to 30.
In making the UP West line operate more efficiently by adding trains and a significant amount of express runs, it likely will draw some riders who travel from other towns to use the BNSF line, said Don Kopec, deputy director of Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.
“Naturally when you make it more competitive, there will be some shifting,” Kopec said.
The BNSF route, which runs through Aurora, Naperville, Lisle, Downers Grove and other towns on its way into Chicago, has the highest ridership of all of Metra’s routes, Waldron said. As the busiest route in Metra’s system, it has the most express trains.
People who live between the UP West and BNSF lines have the choice of which line to take, Carruthers said. Because of its more frequent express trains, commuters often opt to ride the BNSF.
“We have people from all over the place who are on our waiting list (for parking permits),” Carruthers said.
Individuals from cities including Warrenville, DeKalb and Batavia are on the waiting lists for parking permits at Naperville’s Metra stations, she said. And those waiting lists are long. Currently the wait for a permit at the Route 59 station is two years and three months. It’s six years for the Kroehler lot and close to nine years for the Burlington lot, both of which serve the downtown train station, she said.
Kopec said Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning has seen shifts in ridership as improvements were made on Metra’s other lines, such as the North Central Service, which runs from Chicago to Antioch. But several factors figure into how big of a shift in ridership will actually take place. Among those is the availability of parking for commuters and increasing populations in the suburbs. Rapidly growing places such as the Sugar Grove area, along with Kane and Kendall counties, will bring more riders, though.
“Yes, you will see some shifting of people, but eventually you will see some of that growth take up some of that space,” Kopec said.