The Union Pacific Northwest (UP-NW) Line extends 63 miles from Chicago northwest into McHenry County. The corridor passes through Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. The UP-NW Line serves 72 communities in parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. UP-NW Line passengers make approximately 33,000 trips per weekday on 63 commuter trains.

There is an increasing demand for service in this region due to substantial residential growth. Employment in this segment is anticipated to increase more than 60 percent, and the UP-NW Line improvements will provide better access to major businesses in the corridor including Ameritech, GE Capital, Motorola, Affinia Corporation, Northern Illinois Medical Center, Northwest Community Hospital and United Parcel Service.

Metra is currently seeking funding under the latest transportation bill, Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), to upgrade the UP-NW Line. In November 2001, through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) transportation bill, Congress awarded Metra three Full Funding Grant Agreements for major new service projects. That funding led to the recently completed improvements on the North Central Service and extensions to the UP-W Line and the SouthWest Service. New service began on these lines in January of 2006, on-time and $50 million under budget. Our success under TEA-21 gives Metra confidence it will be successful in moving the SAFETEA-LU New Start projects forward through the federal process to further expand service in your community.

Before Metra can implement any new service or expand existing service, projects must undergo several feasibility and environmental studies to ensure all federal and state guidelines are met. Metra must comply with the federal New Starts process which requires documentation and rigorous studies to justify these commuter rail alternatives best address the transportation needs and issues within the corridors. This process is called Alternatives Analysis.

Although several of the communities along the proposed project corridors are undertaking, or have already completed, some studies of their own, Metra is mandated by law to take the proposed projects through an entire roster of studies, or Alternatives Analysis. Continuous public involvement and any information previously generated by the communities is an important part of the overall analysis, and Metra plans to build upon the data generated from these studies.

As required by the federal New Starts process, Metra is evaluating a broad range of alternatives to meet the needs of the UP-NW Line upgrade. Major improvements being considered for the UP-NW rail alternative include extending service to the Village of Johnsburg on the McHenry Branch, with new consolidated yard facilities in Woodstock and Johnsburg to permit more train capacity; consolidation of maintenance operations, thereby promoting cost efficiency; signal system upgrades that enhance safety; and additional tracks and crossovers to improve capacity. Other alternatives being explored include the development of new express bus services to serve medium-to-long distance trips from southeast McHenry County and northwest Cook County.

Successful implementation of the proposed improvements would increase UP-NW Line capacity thereby allowing more express train service which would improve travel times and enhance transit service for reverse commuters along the Line.

Through the proposed improvements to the UP-NW Line rail alternative, service would expand from 63 to up to 74 trains per day. Additionally, the proposed express schedule is expected to grow from 19 to as many as 24 trains per day.

The study will examine ways to improve existing Metra stations in the study area. In addition, new stations are being proposed in the Village of Johnsburg and Prairie Grove.

The alternatives under consideration are being developed to minimize impacts to communities and the environment. Any potential impacts will be documented as part of this study and will be reported to the community as part of the public involvement process of this study.

Metra will examine connections to existing bus and rail services in the UP-NW Line corridor as part of the study. Possible connections to major activity centers from Metra stations will also be considered.

Metra will continue to keep commuters and informed via our website at www.metraconnects.metrarail.com

Yes, Metra will conduct public meetings on each of the New Start projects giving the public an opportunity to offer their input. Public meetings are scheduled for June 20 and 22, 2006 and also in the fall of 2006.

We encourage you to support this project by staying involved and voicing your support to Metra and your elected officials. Public comments will be taken both through the above Website as well as at public meetings for the study.

Based on feedback from the public and from state, federal and local agencies, Metra will select a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA). Metra expects to submit the LPA to the Federal Transit Administration in November 2006.

Planning, Engineering and Environmental Phases of the project are slated to be completed by 2009. Metra anticipates that this project will be completed 4 years after funding is authorized.