Starting Monday, Metra has added five train trips – 91 up from 87 – to its popular BNSF Line, which runs between Aurora and Chicago along stations including Downers Grove, Hinsdale and Brookfield.
Metra

In a Tuesday filing with the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency overseeing rail companies, Metra argued the board shouldn’t let freight giants Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern combine operations.

The business district in Fulton Market is booming — and the West Loop could be the next location for a Metra station. Crain’s Chicago Business reporter Danny Ecker has details on that story and more.

People who have stayed away from public transit because of the coronavirus pandemic say they expect to return to buses and trains, but the shift toward working from home is likely to change when, why and how often people ride, according to a just-released survey.

With $2 trillion up for grabs in President Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill, Chicago’s transportation leaders are making a case for urgent repair needs and forward-thinking programs — all requiring the type of major funding infusion only the federal government can supply.

The Chicago area saw dangerously cold weather over the weekend, and the week ahead doesn’t appear to offer much relief. But it takes more than a cold snap to bring the city to a standstill.

The transportation agency’s first-ever Bike Car makes its debut Saturday on the Milwaukee District North Line as part of a pilot program that will run through spring 2021.

Commuter rail agency Metra has seen the largest passenger decline of any of the Chicago-area transit systems. How the agency is working to reverse the slump.

Ridership across CTA trains and buses, Metra commuter trains and Pace buses are down about 70% compared to this time last year. With that dramatic decline in ridership comes lower revenue and strains on operational funding.

A new guidebook showcases the region’s best hiking trails accessible via the CTA, Metra or the South Shore Line. Because someday, we’ll ride trains again.

Could a three-year pilot program to lower fares and expand train service on the South Side hurt the Chicago Transit Authority? A supporter of the plan weighs in.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants a hike in the state gas tax to fund transportation infrastructure. The area’s transit heads give us their reaction and an update on the status of the region’s public transportation.

While talk of building a new express train to O’Hare heats up, we explore a little-known line that already goes there.

Metra fare increases as of Wednesday include 25-cent increases for one-way tickets and $11.75 more for monthly passes.

Metra is proposing fare increases of nearly 11 percent next year to help modernize aging infrastructure and railcars.

A new report from Gov. Pat Quinn's transit task force is recommending a shake-up to the structure of the RTA, Metra, CTA and Pace systems to streamline operations and budget woes. The blue-ribbon transit study commission is also recommending ethics reforms. Carol Marin gets the details of the report from the co-chairs of the Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force, George Ranney Jr. and Ann Schneider, and the Task Force’s Ethics chairman, Patrick Fitzgerald. Read the full report, and view a graphic of the current structure of the RTA, Metra, CTA and Pace.