Union Pacific / West Line

The Union Pacific West Line (UP-W) is a Metra commuter rail line operated by Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago, Illinois and its western suburbs. Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, but the timetable accents for the Union Pacific/West line are "Kate Shelley Rose" pink, honoring an Iowa woman who saved a Chicago & North Western Railway train from disaster in 1881. Yellow and green were already selected for the Union Pacific North and Northwest lines respectively, so pink was chosen for this line.[3] In April 2013 the public timetable shows 30 trains leaving Chicago each weekday, of which 22 run to Elburn. Of the 8 trains on weekdays that do not run through to Elburn, 4 terminate at Elmhurst, 2 at Geneva, 1 at West Chicago, and 1 at La Fox. All weekend trains run through to Elburn. Until 2006, all Metra trains on this line terminated at Geneva. The line runs as part of the Union Pacific Railroad's Geneva Subdivision (ex-C&NW line to Clinton, Iowa.)

Union Pacific West Line
The River Forest station in River Forest, Illinois
Overview
Type	Commuter Rail
System	Metra
Termini	Ogilvie Transportation Center Elburn
Stations	19
Daily ridership	27,196 (avg. weekday 2014)[1]
Operation
Owner	Union Pacific Railroad (Leased to Metra)
Operator(s)	Union Pacific Railroad Metra
Technical
Line length	43.8 miles[2]
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map 44.0 mi 70.8 km Elburn Elburn yard 40.8 mi 65.7 km La Fox 38.1 mi 61.3 km St. Charles (closed 1951) 35.5 mi 57.1 km Geneva Fox River Freeport branch Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Rwy 29.7 mi 47.8 km West Chicago 27.5 mi 44.3 km Winfield Illinois Prairie Path 25.0 mi 40.2 km Wheaton 23.8 mi 38.3 km College Avenue 22.4 mi 36 km Glen Ellyn DuPage River 19.9 mi 32 km Lombard 17.8 mi 28.6 km Villa Park IC West Line Salt Creek 15.7 mi 25.3 km Elmhurst 14.3 mi 23 km Berkeley 12.7 mi 20.4 km Bellwood Addison Creek Indiana Harbor Belt 11.3 mi 18.2 km Melrose Park 10.5 mi 16.9 km Maywood Des Plaines River 9.7 mi 15.6 km River Forest Canadian National Railway 9.1 mi 14.6 km Lathrop (closed 1958) 8.5 mi 13.7 km Oak Park Harlem/Lake 8.2 mi 13.2 km Avenue (closed 1958) 7.7 mi 12.4 km Ridgeland (closed 1958) 7.2 mi 11.6 km Austin Blvd. (closed 1958) 6.7 mi 10.8 km Austin (closed 1958) Green to Ashland/63rd and Cottage Grove Belt Railway of Chicago 4.8 mi 7.7 km Keeler (employees only) 3.6 mi 5.8 km Kedzie 3.0 mi 4.8 km California Ave. coach yard Western Ave. Corridor MD-N MD-W NCS 2.6 mi 4.2 km UP-N UP-NW Chicago River ( north branch ) Wells Street Station (1853–1911) MD-N MD-W NCS to Union Station Green Pink 0.0 Ogilvie

The line runs from the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago through the western suburbs to Elburn. This is the oldest railway route in Chicago, the route of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad along Kinzie street.

Until the late 1940s the line had a branch to Freeport, Illinois. It diverged from the main line at West Chicago and had stations at Elgin, Marengo, Belvidere, Rockford, Freeport, and other communities.

Ridership

Since 2014 annual ridership has declined from 8.4 million to 8.1 million, an overall decline of 3.4%.[4]

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

9,000,000

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Station stops

Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
	Freeport	Freeport	Freeport branch
	Ridott	Ridott	Freeport branch
	Pecatonica	Pecatonica	Freeport branch
	Winnebago	Winnebago	Freeport branch
	Rockford	Rockford	Freeport branch
		East Rockford	Freeport branch
	Cherry Valley	Cherry Valley	Freeport branch
	Belvidere	Belvidere	Freeport branch
	Garden Prairie	Garden Prairie	Freeport branch
	Marengo	Marengo	Freeport branch
	Union	Union	Freeport branch
	Huntley	Huntley	Freeport branch
	Gilberts	Gilberts	Freeport branch
	Aurora	Aurora	Aurora branch
I	Elburn	Elburn	Huskie Line: Elburn Shuttle
	North Aurora	North Aurora	Aurora branch
	Elgin	Elgin (West Side)	Freeport branch
	Mooseheart	Mooseheart	Aurora branch
	La Fox	La Fox
	South Elgin	South Elgin	Freeport branch
	Batavia	Batavia	Aurora branch
	St. Charles	St. Charles	St. Charles branch
H	Geneva	Geneva	Pace: 592, 596, 801, 802
G	Wayne	Wayne	Freeport branch
F	West Chicago	West Chicago
	Winfield	Winfield	Pace: 591
E	Wheaton	Wheaton	Pace: 301, 591, 709, 711, 714
		College Avenue	Pace: 714
	Glen Ellyn	Glen Ellyn	Pace: 715
D	Lombard	Lombard	Pace: 674
	Villa Park	Villa Park
	Elmhurst	Elmhurst	Pace: 309, 332
C	Berkeley	Berkeley	Formerly named Proviso
	Bellwood	Bellwood	Pace: 313, 330
	Melrose Park	Melrose Park	Pace: 303, 309, 311
	Maywood	Maywood	Pace: 309, 313, 331
B	River Forest	River Forest	Pace: 309, 313
		Lathrop	Closed December 1, 1958
	Oak Park	Oak Park	Chicago "L": Green Line (at Harlem/Lake) CTA Bus: 90 Pace: 307, 309, 313, 318, 757, 770
		Avenue	Closed December 1, 1958
		Ridgeland	Closed December 1, 1958
		Austin Boulevard	Closed December 1, 1958
	Chicago	Austin	Closed December 1, 1958
		Keeler	Employee only stop, serves adjacent maintenance facility
A		Kedzie	Chicago "L": Green Line (CTA) (at Kedzie) CTA Bus: 52
		Ogilvie Transportation Center	Metra: Union Pacific / Northwest Line, Union Pacific / North Line Chicago "L": Green Line, Pink Line (at Clinton) CTA Bus: J14, 19, 56, 60, 120, 124 Navy Pier, 125, 126, 128, 130, 157, 192

References

1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. Metra Railfan Tips - Union Pacific/West
3. "Did you know?" (PDF). On the Bi-Level: 3. June 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-02.
4. "RIDERSHIP TRENDS ANNUAL REPORT 2018" (PDF). Metra. p. 4. Retrieved 12 May 2019.

External links

Template:Attached KML/Union Pacific / West Line

KML is from Wikidata

• Metra Union Pacific/West service schedule

Media related to Metra Union Pacific/West Line at Wikimedia Commons