Durbin Meets with METRA to Discuss Suburban Transit Priorities

DURBIN MEETS WITH METRA TO DISCUSS SUBURBAN TRANSIT PRIORITIES

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Metra Board Chairwoman Carole Doris and Executive Director Phil Pagano to discuss a number of priorities important to the transit line including expansion, improvement and funding. The meeting took place in Durbin's Capitol office in Washington, DC.

"A recent study showed that traffic in the Chicago area was among the most congested in the country," said Durbin "With gasoline prices at an all time high, more people rely on public transit system as a means of transportation. The improvements we discussed today will allow Metra to keep up with the increase in ridership demands while ensuring the long-term viability of the system."

Durbin noted that Metra makes 300 thousand trips per weekday; about 7 million passenger trips per month on 11 commuter lines -- an increase of 7% from 2004 to 2006. With the increase in ridership, Durbin and the members of Metra discussed the need for two new lines. The proposed STAR Line, which will connect 100 communities in 55 miles of track and allow people to travel in an arc from O'Hare to Hoffman Estates to Naperville to Joliet. The proposed Southeast line would link 20 underserved areas connecting downtown Chicago to Crete and Balmoral Park.

Durbin also stressed the need for improvements to two existing lines, the UP-NW Line and the UP-West Line. The UP-NW Line is Metra's longest serving line currently serving 72 communities, running from Ogolvie Center in Chicago to Harvard. Upgrading this line would allow for an increase from 63 to 74 in the number of trains and would include new rail yards to boost train capacity. Growing population demands have increased the need for service on the UP-West Line which runs 44 miles from Olgilvie Center to Elburn and serves 62 communities in Kane, Dupage and western Cook counties. The planned project would expand the number of daily trains from 59 to 80 and would fix the most the congested bottleneck in Chicago.

At the meeting, Durbin also discussed need for transit funding for the Chicago area. Last year, Durbin secured $2 million dollars from the SAFETEA bill for the Northern Illinois Commuter Transportation Initiative study which would look into the expansion of Metra to Rockford. The service would help alleviate the heavy congestion on I-90; almost 100,000 cars travel daily on I-90 between Rockford and the growing Chicago suburbs.

http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=268595&&