Rock Island riders are about to see a lot more Metra trains. Starting Monday, June 1, the agency is rolling out a major service bump on the Rock Island Line, with added weekday trips and a big weekend overhaul that will put 40 trains on the schedule each Saturday and Sunday. The idea is to give South Side and suburban riders more evening options and a weekend timetable that is easier to follow.
Metra CEO and executive director Jim Derwinski said riders “have made it clear” they want more evening and weekend choices, and the agency is pitching the shift as a cleaner, more consistent setup for both regular commuters and occasional riders. As reported by NBC Chicago, Metra will add extra weekday trains and make weekend schedules identical on both days.
New Stops And Schedule Tweaks
Several timetable changes will hit at the same time as the added service. Multiple weekday and weekend trains will begin stopping at Gresham, 95th Street/Longwood, and 103rd Street/Washington Heights.
Per Metra, Beverly Branch trains will no longer stop at 123rd Street and Prairie Street during off-peak weekday hours, and those stops are also coming off the weekend schedule. Riders who use those stations are being pointed to the nearby 119th Street stop instead. Metra has made similar stop adjustments in the past when it shifts trains to the main line during construction or other service changes.
Why Now: Capacity And Infrastructure Work
The timing is not random. Longer-range capacity projects are in the works on the corridor, including the Rock Island Intercity Improvement (RI3) effort that aims to modernize signaling, crossovers, and station access for both commuter and intercity trains. Regional planning documents, such as the CREATE program’s narrative, outline how these upgrades are intended to boost the number of trains the corridor can handle.
What Riders Should Know
Metra’s Rock Island Line runs more than 40 miles from LaSalle Street Station to Joliet and serves 26 stations across Cook and Will counties, according to Metra. The line terminates at Joliet, which also handles Amtrak’s Lincoln Service and Texas Eagle trains, per Great American Stations.
Once the June 1 changes kick in, riders are being urged to double-check the Rock Island timetable and confirm whether their usual trains still stop at their stations, especially on the Beverly Branch. For commuters, the payoff is more predictable weekend service and extra off-peak options, but the tradeoff is a short adjustment period where reading the fine print on the schedule will be key.
