Commentary

Metra’s MACs: From Freight Haulers to Commuter Service

Looking to make its dollar go further, Metra turned to Progress Rail to convert former freight locomotives into passenger power for Chicago. Over the past few years, Sean Cronin, Senior Director of

(Metra Photograph)

Metra Awarded $104MM for Station Upgrades, Switchers

More than $104 million in grants from Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s (CMAP) Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program have been allocated to Metra commuter railroad in Chicago.

Mark Your Calendar: 2025 Women in Rail Event Set for Oct. 15-16

Railway Age and Railway Track & Structures are returning to Chicagoland for our much-anticipated third-annual in-person Women in Rail Conference featuring trailblazing women and their allies who are significantly influencing today’s freight, passenger and transit rail

Alstom Opens Plant 4 Manufacturing Facility in Hornell, N.Y.

Alstom on June 2 announced the opening of its new 135,000-square-foot Plant 4 manufacturing facility in Hornell, N.Y., which will produce stainless steel car body shells for passenger rail vehicles and provide additional capacity and manufacturing capabilities to support other Alstom projects.

Reports: Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Replace Chicago RTA (UPDATED 6/2)

Illinois lawmakers on May 28 unveiled a bill that proposes to replace the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), which oversees the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra commuter rail, and Pace suburban buses, with a new organization called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, according to multiple news reports.

Alvaro Senador-Gomez (center) is Siemens Mobility’s new President of Rail Infrastructure in North America. He joins his team at Railway Interchange in Indianapolis to showcase the company’s latest technology. (Photograph by Marybeth Luczak)

On the Record … With Alvaro Senador-Gomez, Siemens Mobility

Alvaro Senador-Gomez, Siemens Mobility’s new President of Rail Infrastructure in North America, kicked off Railway Interchange with Railway Age to talk high-speed rail in the U.S., digitalization, and the company’s latest signaling

Transit Briefs: MARTA, Metra

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) unveils a new online trip planner. Also, Metra schedules 40 safety blitzes in 2025.

Metra and its freight railroad and municipal partners are taking on a wide variety of projects in 2025, including improvements to 52 stations and replacement of 43 grade crossings. (Metra Photograph)

Metra Outlines 2025 Construction Program

Metra on March 18 detailed its program for the 2025 construction season, covering station, track, road crossing, bridge, and signal/communications improvement projects along the Chicagoland commuter railroad’s 11 lines totaling nearly 500 route

Pictured: TTC’s Harvey Shop Building, part of the Hillcrest Complex in Toronto. The complex will be expanded to house about 25 more Alstom LRVs, part of a new 60-car order. (TTC Photograph)

Transit Briefs: TTC, Metra, Amtrak

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) begins expanding its Hillcrest Complex to house new Alstom-built streetcars. Also, Chicago’s Metra considers renaming its regional/commuter rail lines; and Amtrak updates its mobile app for riders.

(UP Photograph)

Metra to STB: Ensure Passenger Service on UP Lines ‘Continues Uninterrupted’

Union Pacific (UP) has placed Metra’s regional/commuter rail service in Chicagoland “at risk by demanding” that it pay “economically unreasonable and monopolistic rates to continue using the UP Lines for its public service,” Metra wrote in a Surface Transportation Board (STB) application for terminal trackage rights that was submitted March 7.

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