North Central Service
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The North Central Service (NCS) is a commuter rail line provided and operated by Metra in Chicago, Illinois, and its surrounding suburbs. While Metra does not specifically refer to any of its lines by a particular color, the timetable accents for the North Central Service line are printed in light purple.

Its southern terminus is Union Station in downtown Chicago. The line traverses Chicago's western neighborhoods and its northwestern and far northern suburbs to Antioch, Illinois. Between Western Avenue and River Grove stations, the North Central Service shares the right of way with Metra's Milwaukee District/West Line.

Service began August 19, 1996. As of 2006, this is the only new line in the Metra system since its formation.

Station stops

North Central Service trains make the following station stops:

• Union Station
• Western Avenue
• River Grove
• Belmont Avenue (Franklin Park)
• Schiller Park
• Rosemont
• O'Hare Transfer
• Prospect Heights
• Wheeling
• Buffalo Grove
• Prairie View
• Vernon Hills
• Mundelein
• Prairie Crossing / Libertyville
• Washington Street (Grayslake)
• Round Lake Beach
• Lake Villa
• Antioch

News

On January 30, 2006, four new stations on the North Central Service opened: Franklin Park, Schiller Park, Rosemont, and Grayslake.[1] Another station, at Grand and Cicero Avenues in Chicago (between the Western Avenue and River Grove stops), was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006. Service doubled from 10 to 20 trains per day with this change in the timetable.[2]

On September 11, 2006, service expanded from 20 to 22 trains when Metra split one rush-hour local train in each direction into two express trains.

References

• J. David Ingles, Ready or not, here we come, Trains November 1996

External links

• Metra North Central Service schedule