Heritage Corridor

Heritage Corridor

Company type	Commuter rail route
Industry	Transportation
Founded	1984
Headquarters	Chicago , United States
Area served	Chicago metropolitan area
Products	Commuter rail service
Parent	Metra

The Heritage Corridor (HC) is a Metra commuter rail route that connects Chicago with its southwestern suburban areas, ending in Joliet, Illinois. Although Metra does not officially assign colors to its lines, the Heritage Corridor is commonly recognized by the "Alton Maroon" shade, a nod to its historical ties with the Alton Railroad. Its designation also honors the nearby Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor, which was established in 1984.

Distinct from other Metra routes, the Heritage Corridor runs exclusively during weekday peak periods, operating inbound toward Chicago in the morning and outbound to Joliet in the afternoon. The journey duration is approximately 1 hour and 7 minutes. The Rock Island District line also provides service to Joliet with more frequent departures.

As of February 15, 2024, there are six weekday trains on this line—three inbound trips from Joliet to Chicago in the morning and three outbound trips returning in the afternoon. All trains make stops at every station along the route. Aside from occasional special seasonal excursions, no weekend or holiday service is offered. This line features the fewest stations and lowest train frequency among all Metra lines.

Every station on the Heritage Corridor complies with ADA accessibility standards, similar to other lines such as the North Central Service and SouthWest Service.

Route

The Heritage Corridor extends from Union Station in downtown Chicago through southwestern suburbs ending at Joliet. As of March 2016, four trains run daily from Chicago to Joliet on weekdays, with an additional inbound afternoon rush train operating as an empty equipment move.

These tracks are shared with Amtrak services including the Texas Eagle and Lincoln Service, running between Union Station and the Joliet station. Canadian National freight trains also utilize this corridor since CN owns the rail infrastructure. While the Texas Eagle stops only at Chicago and Joliet, the Lincoln Service additionally calls at Summit. The Joliet Transportation Center replaced the former Joliet Union Station on April 11, 2018.

On May 16, 2017, Metra commenced construction of a new station in Romeoville, situated near 135th Street and New Avenue. The project was budgeted at approximately $4.9 million and the station opened on February 5, 2018.

Metra’s Cost Benefit Analysis report outlines a possible future extension of the Heritage Corridor beyond Joliet southward to Wilmington, including a proposed stop in Elwood.

Stations

bgcolor=#dfdfdf 3 bgcolor=#dfdfdf 3 rowspan=5 |Will County, Illinois bgcolor=#dfdfdf 4 bgcolor=#dfdfdf 4

County	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
Cook	1	Chicago		Template:Rint Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Empire Builder, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle Template:Rint (intercity): Template:Lnl, Borealis, Hiawatha, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Lincoln Service, Template:Lnl, Wolverine 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, 120–130 series, 151, 156, 157, 192 Template:Rint Pace Bus: 755 Template:Rint Amtrak Thruway: Chicago–Madison and Chicago–Rockford (Van Galder), Chicago–Louisville (Greyhound)
				Closed 1902; replaced by Halsted Street
				Closed 1984
				Closed 1984
		Central Stickney, Illinois		Closed 1989
	2	Summit, Illinois		Template:Rint Amtrak: Lincoln Service Template:Rint Pace Bus: 330
	rowspan=2	bgcolor=#dfdfdf	bgcolor=#dfdfdf Closed
		Template:Rint Pace Bus: 390
	rowspan=2	bgcolor=#dfdfdf	bgcolor=#dfdfdf Closed
		Template:Rint Pace Bus: 755
4	Romeoville, Illinois		Template:Rint Pace Bus: 755
rowspan=2 |Lockport, Illinois	bgcolor=#dfdfdf	bgcolor=#dfdfdf Closed 1988
	Template:Rint Pace Bus: 755, 834
rowspan=2 |Joliet, Illinois	bgcolor=#dfdfdf Joliet Correctional Center	bgcolor=#dfdfdf Closed
	Template:Rint Amtrak: Lincoln Service, Texas Eagle Template:Rint Metra: Template:Rcb Template:Rint Pace Bus: 501, 504–509 series, 511, 832, 834

Ridership

From 2014 through 2019, the yearly number of passengers remained consistent at around 730,000. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant reduction in ridership, which fell to 177,838 in 2020 and declined even further to 82,197 in 2021.

Excursion service

Metra has provided "Rails, Trails, and Ales" excursion trains on Saturdays during the fall seasons of 2021, 2023, and 2024, as well as in the summer of 2022. These excursions operated multiple trains making all stops between Union Station and Joliet—two round trips during fall 2021 (September to October), three round trips in summer 2022 (July through September), and three round trips again in both fall 2023 and 2024 (September to October).

External links

• Heritage Corridor service schedule (archived 2015-10-07)