(The following column by Guy Tridgell appeared on the Southtown Star website on January 26, 2010.)
CHICAGO — The Heritage Corridor Line long has been Metra’s red-headed stepchild. The service – you know, the actual trains – barely exists. Three trains inbound each morning. Three trains outbound each afternoon. Nothing on the weekends.
Punctuality is a problem. One out of every 10 trains on the Heritage Corridor Line is late. No other line performs worse.
The Heritage Corridor Line, with stops in Summit, Willow Springs, Lemont and Lockport, has a heritage its riders could do without. It is the worst of Metra’s 11 commuter lines – by far.
The term “food desert” was coined to describe an area devoid of grocery stores.
Well, a sizeable chunk of the southwest suburbs is a transit desert because sightings of those familiar silver cars of Metra’s are so few and far between.
U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-3rd) wants to supply a drink of water.
Lipinski, the only member of the Chicago delegation on the House Transportation Committee, has begun leaning hard on Metra to get its act together on the Heritage Corridor Line – sooner rather than later.
The congressman from Western Springs fired off a letter last week to get Metra’s attention. Lipinski said Metra’s failure to tweak the line’s schedule, at the very minimum, is having real consequences for everyone around here.
“Unfortunately, this has forced many local residents, especially in my congressional district, to drive downtown, utilize alternative Metra routes or other public transportation further from their homes, or even not consider employment and education opportunities in the city,” he said. “I urge Metra to work to further boost the frequency of service. Three roundtrip trains per weekday are simply not enough to meet the current and future needs of residents along this corridor.”
Since the Heritage Corridor Line debuted in 1984, Metra has insisted it couldn’t improve service because the tracks are clogged with freight trains. The line runs through a stretch of Chicago and the suburbs populated with heavy industry.
But the time for excuses is over.
A couple of things have happened in recent years that made sure the old line of reason isn’t going to cut it anymore.
• A notorious chokepoint was fixed in 2007. An overhaul of an antiquated rail switching station in Chicago’s Brighton Park community was replaced by a modern, automated system that allows more trains to pass in and out of the city.
• The EJ&E Railroad. Canadian National Railway, the owner of the Heritage Corridor Line tracks, bought the EJ&E tracks in 2008. The purchase allowed Canadian National to take trains from its innercity tracks and put them on the “J” in the suburbs. The Heritage Corridor tracks were supposed to benefit by seeing a reduction in freight traffic.
A Metra spokeswoman said the agency is keeping an open mind on the Heritage Corridor
“Were still talking to Canadian National about adding one inbound and one outbound train, but there is no timetable on this,” she said. “We are still talking to the communities, but we know the support is there.”
If more support is required, here it is:
No one should have to put up with the Heritage Corridor in its current state. The only reason the cruddy service is tolerated is because people are used to it.
When suburbs are trying to create downtowns from scratch, the so-called transit-oriented developments (see Orland Park, re: Metra Triangle), old downtowns built around train stations already can be found up and down the Heritage Corridor Line.
With the need to add capacity to expressways a constant battle, getting butts on the train is one way to win it.
Lipinski twisted arms to get Metra to add weekend trains on the SouthWest Service Line a couple of years ago.
Looks like some of the same tactics will be needed to get the Heritage Corridor Line into the 21st century.
The number of riders on the Metra system in 2009 through November
Burlington Northern: 14.9 million
Union Pacific-North: 9.7 million
Electric Line: 9.6 million
Union Pacific-Northwest: 9.3 million
Rock Island District: 8.2 million
Union Pacific-West: 7 million
Milwaukee North: 6.6 million
Milwaukee West: 6.1 million
SouthWest Service: 2.3 million
North Central: 1.5 million
Heritage Corridor: 666,000
On-time performance in 2009
Electric Line: 97.5 percent
Milwaukee West: 97.1 percent
Rock Island District: 96.2 percent
Union Pacific-Northwest: 95.6 percent
Union Pacific-West: 95.4 percent
SouthWest Service: 95.1 percent
Milwaukee North: 94.9 percent
North Central: 94.8 percent
Union Pacific-North: 94.2 percent
Burlington Northern: 93.6 percent
Heritage Corridor: 90.8 percent