Milwaukee District / North Line

Metra is the primary user of the line, with commuter services operating between Union Station and Fox Lake. As of 2018, the public timetable shows 30 weekday departures to Chicago, with 18 running through to Fox Lake. Of the 12 trains not running to Fox Lake, six terminate at Deerfield, five at Grayslake, and one at Lake Forest. The public timetable also shows 30 trains heading in to Chicago of which 18 start at Fox Lake. Of the 12 that do not start at Fox Lake, seven start at Deerfield and five start at Grayslake. NCS train #120 is also shown on the timetable as it makes stops at Libertyville and Lake Forest. Metra operates a reduced schedule on weekends.[3] This service is supplemented by Amtrak, whose Empire Builder and Hiawatha Service inter-city trains stop at Union Station and Glenview. Metra began increased reverse-commute service on the North Line on March 4, 2019. This service is part of a pilot-program funded under a two-year, public-private partnership (P3).[4]

Before 1982, this line was operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road). When the Milwaukee Road went bankrupt, the Regional Transportation Authority took over operation of the line. By 1984, the line passed to RTA's newly created Commuter Rail Division, which rebranded as Metra in 1985. Today this service is one of several Metra routes operated by Metra crews, but trains are dispatched, under contract, by the Canadian Pacific Railway, which bought the Milwaukee Road in 1986 along with the Soo Line in 1990 and runs freight service over parts of this route.

The Milwaukee District/North Line route and Metra's track ownership diverges from the Chicago - Milwaukee - Minneapolis mainline at Rondout, Illinois and proceeds northwesterly toward Fox Lake. This secondary route, owned by Metra, was known as the Janesville Subdivision (J-Sub) of the Milwaukee Road. The mainline north of Rondout is owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP)[5] through its American subsidiary Soo Line Railroad and sees Amtrak and freight traffic only. Metra service and track ownership ends at Fox Lake. The tracks beyond Fox Lake are owned by the State of Wisconsin and operated for freight service by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, a subsidiary of the Watco Companies. Commuter service beyond Fox Lake, abolished in 1982, served the communities of Spring Grove, Illinois, Solon Mills, Illinois, Zenda, Wisconsin, and Walworth, Wisconsin.[6]

Until 1984, there was a stop in Rondout. The station building itself was demolished in the mid-1960s. The station was located at Rondout Junction, where the line crosses the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway's tracks at a diamond junction.[7] Before 1982, service ran as far north as Walworth, Wisconsin.

There is also talk of constructing a second branch, running along the Canadian Pacific main line from Rondout north to Wadsworth and Kenosha County, Wisconsin.[8]

Since 2014 annual ridership has declined from 7.2 million to 6.6 million, an overall decline of 8.7%.[9]

• Metra Milwaukee District/North service schedule

Media related to Metra Milwaukee District/North Line at Wikimedia Commons