RAILROAD OPERATING INFORMATION

METRA

Electric District

FORMERLY Illinois Central Railroad
ELECTRIFIED 1926
SIX TRACKS established 1926 (Chicago-51st Street)
FOUR TRACKS established 1926 (51st Street-Kensington)
TWO TRACKS established 1926 (Kensington-Matteson)
EXTENDED 1946 (Matteson-Richton)/1977 (Richton-University Park)
FOUR TRACKS established 1962 (Chicago-51st Street)/fifth and sixth track eliminated
CTC installed 1964 (Kensington-Homewood)/1977 (Homewood-University Park)
CTC installed 2002 (67th Street-Kensington)
CTC installed 2018 (Van Buren Street-11th Place)
COMMUTER SERVICE: Metra Electric District

Metra acquired this line from Illinois Central in 1987. Prior to the 1926 electrification, the commuter operation was more intertwined with the Illinois Central main line operations.

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Radio Frequency - 161.025 (AAR Channel 61)

Stations/Milepost Locations

(Metra stops are capitalized)

Direction is southward from Randolph Street/Millennium Park to University Park

0.00 RANDOLPH STREET/MILLENNIUM PARK (remote-Terminal Dispatcher)
0.80 VAN BUREN STREET
1.43 MUSEUM CAMPUS/11TH STREET (remote-Terminal Dispatcher)
2.22 18TH STREET
2.68 MCCORMICK PLACE/23RD STREET
3.20 27TH STREET
5.90 47TH STREET
6.54 53RD STREET (remote-North Dispatcher)
6.99 57TH STREET
7.43 59TH STREET
7.92 63RD STREET
8.33 67TH STREET (remote-North Dispatcher)
9.32 75TH-GRAND CROSSING
9.99 79TH-CHATHAM
10.38 83RD-AVALON PARK
10.86 87TH-WOODRUFF
11.37 91ST-CHESTERFIELD
12.04 95TH-CHICAGO STATE UNIVERSITY
13.06 103RD STREET
13.54 107TH STREET
13.95 111TH-PULLMAN
14.49 115TH-KENSINGTON (remote-South Dispatcher)
17.33 RIVERDALE
18.18 IVANHOE
18.98 147TH STREET
20.00 HARVEY
22.27 HAZEL CREST
22.82 CALUMET
23.51 HOMEWOOD (remote-South Dispatcher)
24.93 FLOSSMOOR
26.56 OLYMPIA FIELDS
27.62 211TH STREET
28.24 MATTESON
29.33 RICHTON PARK (remote-South Dispatcher)
31.50 UNIVERSITY PARK (remote-South Dispatcher)

3 tracks from Van Buren Street to 11th Place, numbered west to east. CTC in use, controlled by Terminal Dispatcher.

4 tracks from 11th Place to Kensington, numbered west to east. Track 1 is southward express, Track 2 is southward local, Track 3 is northward local, and Track 4 is northward express. All tracks signaled for current of traffic between 11th Place and 67th Street, under jurisdiction of North Dispatcher. Between 67th Street and Kensington, CTC in use, controlled by North Dispatcher.

2 tracks from Kensington to Richton Park, and 1 track from Richton Park to University Park. CTC in use, controlled by South Dispatcher.

Dispatchers are located at Metra's Consolidated Control Facility. The Terminal Dispatcher is on duty except evenings and Sundays, when the station is controlled by the North Dispatcher.

TRACK DIAGRAM

Also shown is the paralleling Canadian National trackage. Spacing shown between tracks indicates the present separate railroads, and does not indicate actual spacing between tracks.

TRACK DIAGRAM - RANDOLPH STREET/MILLENNIUM PARK STATION

Signal Locations/Google Maps

Signals are indicated in greater detail, using zoomable Google Maps. Satellite views are also available. Signals are typically numbered according to track number and hundredth of a mile.

11th Place-67th Street

67th Street-Kensington

Kensington-Harvey

Harvey-Vollmer

Vollmer-University Park

Catenary supports are numbered to the hundredth of a mile. On these maps, combined catenary supports and signal bridges are generally numbered with the catenary support number. As bidirectional track segments were created over the years, southbound and northbound signals would become numbered to the odd or even hundredth of a mile.

Classic Track Diagrams

Route as it likely existed during 1950's, prior to elimination of certain multiple tracks.