SouthWest Service

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The Southwest Service (SWS) is an American commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra, running southwest from Union Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois to Manhattan. While Metra does not specifically refer to any of its lines by a particular color, the timetable accents for the SouthWest Service line are printed in "Banner Blue". The trackage is owned by Metra north of a junction with the Belt Railway of Chicago at Loomis Boulevard, and by the Norfolk Southern Railway south of the junction (NS has trackage rights over Metra's portion).

The SouthWest Service does not operate on weekends or holidays.

1 History
2 Station stops
3 External links
4 References

[edit] History

The line south of the curve at the east end of the section aligned with 75th Street was originally built by the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway, which opened in 1880 to Chicago. At that curve was a junction with the Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad, which the Wabash owned one-fifth of, and used to reach Dearborn Station in downtown Chicago.

After several reorganizations, the Wabash Railroad was leased by the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1964; by then all that was left in the way of passenger trains was the Chicago-Orland Park commuter service. On May 2, 1971, after only one day of operations, Amtrak pulled out of Dearborn Station, and for several years the N&W operated trains to a track west of the station. In 1976 the terminal was moved to Union Station, via a new connection at Alton Junction, and the Regional Transportation Authority began to subsidize the service in 1978. The N&W merged into the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1982, and for a while the line was known as the Norfolk Southern Line (NS). On June 1, 1993 Metra took over operations and renamed it the Southwest Service.

The rail line expansion project, which includes 11 miles of new track and at least two additional train stations, was completed (except for the Laraway Road station) in January 2006. The number of trains per day increased from 16 to 30, 15 in each direction.[1] For years, Pace had operated bus route 835, with funding help from Metra. It provided additional service during rush hour, as well as midday and early evening service to much of the SouthWest Service area, except Manhattan and Laraway Road, which were not yet open. As most of the train line was only single track, with limited double track segments, Metra could not add any additional trains until the expansion project was complete. Pace had planned to eliminate route 835 when Metra expanded its service, since Pace would no longer receive money from Metra to help fund route 835. Pace held public hearings regarding the discontinuance of route 835 and heard complaints from many regular riders. Pace decided to retain 4 morning inbound and 4 evening outbound runs between Worth and Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago.[2]

[edit] Station stops

Southwest Service trains make the following station stops:

Chicagoland Commuter Rail Metra Lines
	Union Pacific/North Line
	North Central Service
	Milwaukee District/North Line
	Union Pacific/Northwest Line
	Milwaukee District/West Line
	Union Pacific/West Line
	BNSF Railway Line
	Heritage Corridor
	SouthWest Service
	Rock Island District
	Metra Electric Line
NICTD Service
	South Shore Line

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