Milwaukee District North Line

The Milwaukee District North Line (MD-N) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois and its northern suburbs, running from Union Station to Template:Stl. Although Metra does not refer to any of its lines by color, the timetable accents for the Milwaukee District North line are pale "Hiawatha Orange" in honor of the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger trains.

The line utilizes the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway's C&M Subdivision from Union Station to Rondout and Metra's Fox Lake Subdivision from Rondout to Fox Lake.

Operations

File:METX 99 on a MD-N train to Chicago.jpg

Metra F59PH #99 pushes an inbound train through Deerfield

Metra is the primary user of the C&M Subdivision, with commuter services operating between Union Station and Fox Lake. As of June 3, 2024, the public timetable shows 54 trains (27 in each direction) operating on weekdays, with 16 trains running to and from Fox Lake, five running to and from Template:Stl, one running to and from Template:Stl, four running to and from Template:Stl, and one running to and from Template:Stl. Metra operates a reduced schedule on weekends, with nine trains operating between Union Station and Fox Lake, with an additional train on Saturday afternoons that short-turns at Lake Forest. This service is supplemented by Amtrak, whose Empire Builder, Hiawatha and Borealis inter-city trains operate on the line between Union Station and Rondout, and also stop at Template:Stl.

Metra began increased reverse commute service on the line on March 4, 2019. This service is part of a pilot-program funded under a two-year, public-private partnership between Metra and Lake County Partners. The increased reverse commute service was temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, but was reinstated in December 2022. On June 3, 2024, Metra updated the timetable and stopping patterns for trains to better reflect current conditions, along with adding an additional late evening departure in each direction, with an inbound 10:30 p.m. train from Fox Lake to Union Station, and a 12:32 a.m. outbound train from Union Station to Fox Lake.

Metra has included the possibility of extending the Milwaukee District North Line along one of two routes in their Cost Benefit Analysis report. If this were to happen, the line could continue northwest via the Fox Lake branch to Richmond, with an additional stop in Spring Grove. Alternatively, the line could be extended north along the C&M Subdivision and continue from Rondout to Wadsworth, with additional stops in Green Oaks, Waukegan (separate from the Union Pacific North Line's station,) and Gurnee.

History

Before 1982, this line was operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). When the Milwaukee Road went bankrupt, the Regional Transportation Authority took over operation of the line. By 1984, the line passed to RTA's newly created Commuter Rail Division, which rebranded as Metra in 1985 (that same year, the Soo Line Railroad acquired controlling interest in the Milwaukee Road and absorbed it the following year). Metra acquired the line from the Soo Line in 1987. The Soo Line then ran freight trains on the line via trackage rights until it was absorbed into the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1990. CP Railway merged with the Kansas City Southern Railway in April 2023 into the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited, or CPKC Railway. Today this service is one of several Metra routes operated by Metra crews, but trains are dispatched under contract by the CPKC, which continues to hold trackage rights.

The Milwaukee District North Line route and Metra's track ownership diverge from the Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis mainline at Rondout, Illinois and proceeds northwesterly toward Fox Lake. This secondary route, owned by Metra, was known as the Janesville Subdivision (J-Sub) of the Milwaukee Road. The mainline north of Rondout is owned by the CPKC through its American subsidiary Soo Line Railroad and sees Amtrak and freight traffic only. Metra service and track ownership end at Fox Lake. The tracks beyond Fox Lake are owned by the State of Wisconsin and operated for freight service by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad. Commuter service beyond Fox Lake, abolished in 1982, served the communities of Spring Grove, Solon Mills, Zenda, and Walworth.

Until 1984, there was a stop in Rondout. The station building itself was demolished in the mid-1960s. The station was located at Rondout Junction, where the line crosses the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway's tracks at a diamond junction. Before 1982, service ran as far north as Walworth, Wisconsin.

Metra has conducted studies on extending the Milwaukee District North Line to Richmond, Illinois, and constructing a second branch, running along the CPKC main line from Rondout north to Wadsworth. However, there are not any plans to construct the extension.

Ridership

Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined from 7,237,913 to 6,549,143, an overall decline of 9.5%. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 1,556,783 passengers in 2020 and to 1,094,292 in 2021. Despite this overall annual decline, from April to December 2021, ridership was higher than in the same period in 2020.

Stations

State	County	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
WI	Walworth		Walworth	Walworth	Closed October 1, 1982
			Zenda	Zenda	Closed October 1, 1982
IL	McHenry		Richmond	Richmond	Proposed new stop
			Solon Mills	Solon Mills	Closed October 1, 1982
			Spring Grove	Spring Grove	Closed October 1, 1982
	Lake	4	Fox Lake	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 570, 806
			Ingleside	Template:Stl Template:BSflag	Template:Rint Pace: 570
			Long Lake	Template:Stn	Closed 1984
				Template:Stl
			Round Lake	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 570
			Grayslake	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 570
			Libertyville	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Metra: Template:Rcb
				Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 574
			Rondout	Template:Stn	Closed 1984
		4	Lake Forest	Template:Stl
			Deerfield	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 471
	Cook	3		Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 626
			Northbrook	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 422
			Techny	Techny	Closed 1971
		3	Glenview	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 423
				Template:Stl	Template:Rint Amtrak: Borealis, Empire Builder, Hiawatha Template:Rint Pace: 210, 422, 423
			Golf	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 208, 210
		2	Morton Grove	Template:Stl	Template:Rint Pace: 210, 250
			Chicago	Template:Stl	Template:Rint CTA Bus: 84, 85A Template:Rint Pace: 225, 226
				Template:Stl	Template:Rint CTA Bus: 92
				Template:Stl	Template:Rint Chicago "L": Template:Rcb (at Template:Cta) Template:Rint CTA Bus: 54, 54A, 78
				Template:Stl	Template:Rint CTA Bus: 56, 152
				Template:Stl	Template:Rint CTA Bus: 53, 74
				Template:Stl	Template:Rint Metra: Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb Template:Rint CTA Bus: 49, X49, 65
		1		Template:Stl	Template:Rint Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Empire Builder, Template:Lnl, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle Template:Rint Amtrak (intercity): Template:Lnl, Borealis, Hiawatha, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Lincoln Service, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl Template:Rint Metra: Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb, Template:Rcb Template:Rint Chicago "L": Template:Rcb (at Template:Cta), Template:Rcb Template:Rcb Template:Rcb Template:Rcb (at Template:Cta) Template:Rint CTA Bus: 1, 7, J14, 19, 28, 56, 60, 120, 121, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 151, 156, 157, 192 Template:Rint Pace: 755 Template:Rint Amtrak Thruway: Chicago–Madison and Chicago–Rockford (Van Galder), Chicago–Louisville (Greyhound)

External links

• Metra Milwaukee District/North Template:Webarchive service schedule