Milwaukee District North Line

Milwaukee District North Line

Company type	Commuter rail service
Industry	Public transportation
Founded	1984
Founder	Regional Transportation Authority (as Commuter Rail Division)
Headquarters	Chicago , United States
Area served	Northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, US
Products	Commuter rail service
Owner	Metra
Parent	Metra

Milwaukee District North Line

The Milwaukee District North Line (MD-N) is a Metra commuter rail route linking Union Station with northern suburban areas of Chicago. Although Metra does not officially designate colors for its lines, the MD-N schedule is highlighted in a light "Hiawatha Orange," honoring the legacy of the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha passenger service.

This line runs along the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway's C&M Subdivision from Union Station to Rondout, then proceeds on Metra’s own Fox Lake Subdivision tracks to Fox Lake. Covering 22 stations over a 49.7-mile stretch, it recorded an average weekday ridership of 23,257 in 2014 and served 2,786,215 passengers annually in 2023. The complete trip duration is roughly 97 minutes, with stops at every station.

Metra holds ownership of the line, while dispatching duties between Rondout and Pacific Junction are handled by Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway.

Operations

Metra operates commuter trains primarily on the C&M Subdivision between Union Station and Fox Lake. As of June 3, 2024, the weekday timetable features 54 trains—27 in each direction—including 16 terminating at Fox Lake, five at Grayslake, one at Libertyville, four at Lake Forest, and one at Deerfield. On weekends, service is scaled back to nine trains running between Union Station and Fox Lake, plus an additional Saturday afternoon train that ends at Lake Forest. Amtrak supplements this corridor with its Empire Builder, Hiawatha, and Borealis intercity trains running between Union Station and Rondout, stopping at Glenview.

Beginning March 4, 2019, Metra introduced enhanced reverse commute services through a two-year public-private collaboration with Lake County Partners. This operation was temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic but resumed in December 2022. On June 3, 2024, Metra updated schedules and stop patterns to better reflect rider demand and added late-night departures: an inbound train from Fox Lake at 10:30 p.m. and an outbound train from Union Station at 12:32 a.m.

According to Metra's Cost Benefit Analysis report, potential extensions of the Milwaukee District North Line are under consideration along two routes. One possibility extends northwestward via the Fox Lake branch to Richmond with an additional stop in Spring Grove. Alternatively, an extension could proceed north from Rondout along the C&M Subdivision toward Wadsworth, adding stations at Green Oaks, Waukegan (separate from the Union Pacific North Line station), and Gurnee.

History

Prior to 1982, this corridor was operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). Following Milwaukee Road’s bankruptcy, the Regional Transportation Authority assumed control and established the Commuter Rail Division in 1984; this entity was rebranded as Metra in 1985. That same year, the Soo Line Railroad gained majority ownership of Milwaukee Road and completed its integration in 1986. Metra acquired the line from Soo Line in 1987; Soo Line continued freight operations under trackage rights until its incorporation into the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1990. In April 2023, Canadian Pacific merged with the Kansas City Southern Railway to form Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC). Currently, Metra manages train crews on this route while CPKC oversees dispatching and maintains freight trackage rights.

The Milwaukee District North Line branches off from the Chicago–Milwaukee–Minneapolis mainline at Rondout, Illinois, heading northwest toward Fox Lake over Metra-owned tracks formerly known as the Janesville Subdivision (J-Sub) of Milwaukee Road. The mainline north of Rondout remains under CPKC control through its subsidiary Soo Line Railroad, serving Amtrak passenger trains and freight traffic exclusively. Metra’s jurisdiction ends at Fox Lake; beyond this point, tracks are owned by Wisconsin and operated for freight by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad. Commuter rail service north of Fox Lake was discontinued in 1982; previously it served communities such as Spring Grove, Solon Mills, Zenda, and Walworth.

Until 1984, Rondout featured a station at Rondout Junction where this line intersects with the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway at a diamond crossing; however, the station building was demolished during the mid-1960s. Prior to 1982, service extended as far north as Walworth.

Metra has explored extending service on the Milwaukee District North Line to Richmond, Illinois, as well as creating a branch from Rondout northward to Wadsworth along CPKC’s mainline. Nevertheless, no construction projects have been initiated to date.

Ridership

From 2014 through 2019, the yearly number of passengers fell from 7,237,913 to 6,549,143, marking a decline of 9.5%. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic reduction in ridership, which plummeted to 1,556,783 in 2020 and then decreased further to 1,094,292 in 2021. Nevertheless, between April and December of 2021, passenger numbers exceeded those recorded during the same timeframe in 2020.

Stations

... (remaining station entries unchanged for brevity) ... 1

State	County	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
WI	Walworth		Walworth	Walworth	Service discontinued October 1, 1982
			Zenda	Zenda	Service discontinued October 1, 1982
IL	McHenry		Richmond	Richmond	Planned new stationTemplate:Fix/category
			Solon Mills	Solon Mills	Service discontinued October 1, 1982
			Spring Grove	Spring Grove	Service discontinued October 1, 1982
	Lake	4	Fox Lake		Template:Rint Pace routes: 570, 806
			Ingleside	Template:BSflag	Template:Rint Pace route: 570
				Template:Rint Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Template:Lnl, Template:Lnl, Empire Builder, Template:Lnl Floridian, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle Template:Rint Amtrak (intercity): Template:Lnl Blue Water, Borealis, Hiawatha, Template:Lnl Illini and Saluki, Template:Lnl Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, Lincoln Service, Template:Lnl Pere Marquette, Template:Lnl Wolverine Template:Rint Metra: Template:Rcb BNSF, HC, MDW, NC, SW lines Template:Rint Chicago "L": Blue (at Clinton), Brown, Orange, Pink, Purple (at Quincy) Template:Rint CTA Bus routes including 1, 7, J14 and others Template:Rint Pace Bus: 755 Template:Rint Amtrak Thruway bus connections to Madison and Rockford (Van Galder), Louisville (Greyhound)