Metra's basic Budd cars were first built for the Milwaukee Road in 1961. The same design was used for the Rock Island Line in 1965, and Budd continued to build such cars until 1980.
During the 1990's, Metra received 177 new cars from Amerail, formerly Morrison-Knudsen. These cars are equipped with lifts for wheelchairs, and have noticeably larger windows than the earlier Budd cars.
In 2003, Metra began receiving 300 new cars from Nippon-Sharyo of Japan, assembled by Super Steel of Milwaukee. These cars are also equipped with lifts for wheelchairs, and have even larger windows than the Amerail cars.