A Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District project at the northern terminus of the Metra Electric District rail line will require busing passengers in downtown Chicago for two weekends in December.
The $200 million Metra Track 4 project is adding a fourth track and associated infrastructure as the Metra line — shared by the South Shore Line in Chicago — is expanded from three to four tracks entering the terminal area. Currently, the four-track line reduces to three just south of the Van Buren Street station as it approaches Millennium Station.
The busing will run from the 18th Street platform to Millennium Station the weekends of Dec. 7-8 and 14-15, NICTD announced this week. There will be no service to the Museum Campus and Van Buren Street stations those weekends.
"For a couple weekends our passengers are going to be inconvenienced," South Shore Line President Michael Noland told the railroad's Board of Trustees at its Monday meeting. "It's the only way to get this project done in order to move some of the essential track."
The track realignments and catenary system upgrades will allow for expanded service into Chicago, some of which has already begun with completion of the South Shore Double Track NWI project that added 26 trains through the week.
Metra and the South Shore together run 223 trains on weekdays in and out of the stations. Fifty-three of those are South Shore trains.
The project is being funded by NICTD, while Metra, which owns the line, is performing the project with its contractor F.H. Paschen, which is also part of NICTD's West Lake Corridor project.
"Metra's totally reconfiguring that railyard," Noland said, in a project that "really does open up capacity and operational flexibility."
During the two weekends, passengers with disabilities will use the McCormick Place Station, and be driven by Pace Paratransit to Millennium Station. NICTD said in its announcement that Metra will have customer service representatives at 18th Street, McCormick Place and Millennium stations to assist passengers.
Information, including an adjusted schedule for the weekends, is available at mysouthshoreline.com.
The Metra Track 4 project is scheduled for completion in 2026.
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