By Railfan & Railroad Staff

Weeks after Metra briefly expanded service on the North Central Service route between Chicago Union Station and O’Hare International Airport during the Democratic National Convention, it’s considering ways to make it permanent.

The North Central Service connects Chicago Union Station and Antioch, Ill., mostly on Canadian National (ex-Soo Line) trackage. With just seven weekday departures from Chicago, it is the least used of Metra’s 11 routes and does not normally have weekend service. However, in the days surrounding the DNC in August, Metra offered hourly service between O’Hare and downtown.

Metra said it would need an agreement with Canadian National (which owns most of the route)  and CPKC (which dispatches part of it) to permanently expand service. It would also likely need to construct additional sidings and crossovers, as well as acquire more equipment. But Metra said it is studying all of that and is now seeking input from riders who used the expanded O’Hare service in August.

In the meantime, Metra received a $750,000 federal grant with the support of U.S. Rep. Michael Quigley to investigate and outline steps to make the O’Hare Transfer Station a more comfortable and useful station and a better alternative for getting to and from the airport.  Chicago also received federal funding to improve the pedestrian connection from the Metra station to the Airport Transit System.