Renaming Metra Lines

[MetroShadow]

The Railroad District has begun the process of possibly renaming the District's lines to reflect regional connectivity and legibility (and the absorption of the UP Lines). Two options are proposed in this exercise:

• Location-based design - focusing on both colors by Downtown Station along with cardinal directions (N, S, W)
• Moving towards a regional rail model by M + number (think pre-2011 SEPTA) with the formula moving West to East by Downtown Station.

 

[artthouwill]

I figured Metra would wind up renaming the three UP Lines, but renaming all the lines might be a little extreme.  With the exception of the BNSF and the UP, none of the other freight lines exist.  

I believe the current naming system is fine.  People can learn it.  But if Metra is so adamant about changing the name of all the lines, then name them according to their downtown Terminals.  For instance. Ogluvie North   Ogluvie NW, and Ogluvie West.  The LaSalle South * and LaSalle Beverly) and the LaSalle Southwest ( when SWS switches from Union Station to LaSalle station.  Then you can have Union Fox Lake, Union Elgin, Union Antioch, Union Aurora, Union Joliet, and Union Manhattan.  I didn't choose direction to keep conLocal. down..  I personally like Metra Electric,  but in keeping with the pattern,  you can have Millennium South Chicago,  Millennium Main Lune, and Millennium Blue Island as well as Millennium Kensington Local. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

I like @artthouwill's suggestion, although I think the most likely scenario will be a version of the cardinal direction map, where each terminal gets assigned a letter (maybe CUS gets 2 for north and south?) and then each line gets a number. Or potentially each major service pattern gets a number, like B1 & B2 for RID to Joliet and RID Beverly Branch.

I'd be surprised if they move to a generic M1-M14, since SEPTA moved away from that scheme and almost every other commuter/regional rail with 3 or more lines identifies them by either end of line station, area or significant destination. Now that I think about it, simply renaming everything to end of line also feels like a most likely scenario (although I'd be curious to see how they handle Joliet)

[MetroShadow]

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

I figured Metra would wind up renaming the three UP Lines, but renaming all the lines might be a little extreme.  With the exception of the BNSF and the UP, none of the other freight lines exist.  

I believe the current naming system is fine.  People can learn it.  But if Metra is so adamant about changing the name of all the lines, then name them according to their downtown Terminals.  For instance. Ogluvie North   Ogluvie NW, and Ogluvie West.  The LaSalle South * and LaSalle Beverly) and the LaSalle Southwest ( when SWS switches from Union Station to LaSalle station.  Then you can have Union Fox Lake, Union Elgin, Union Antioch, Union Aurora, Union Joliet, and Union Manhattan.  I didn't choose direction to keep conLocal. down..  I personally like Metra Electric,  but in keeping with the pattern,  you can have Millennium South Chicago,  Millennium Main Lune, and Millennium Blue Island as well as Millennium Kensington Local. 

I like the idea - but with a number and the destination intact with the origin station, with Joliet being an exception (below)

8 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I like @artthouwill's suggestion, although I think the most likely scenario will be a version of the cardinal direction map, where each terminal gets assigned a letter (maybe CUS gets 2 for north and south?) and then each line gets a number. Or potentially each major service pattern gets a number, like B1 & B2 for RID to Joliet and RID Beverly Branch.

I'd be surprised if they move to a generic M1-M14, since SEPTA moved away from that scheme and almost every other commuter/regional rail with 3 or more lines identifies them by either end of line station, area or significant destination. Now that I think about it, simply renaming everything to end of line also feels like a most likely scenario (although I'd be curious to see how they handle Joliet)

Since RID and HC are shared, I'd wander with L1 (LaSalle-Joliet), L2 (LaSalle-Beverly) and Ux (Union-Joliet via Lockport). SWS would eventually move to L4 (from U/S4) once CREATE and that connection is done.

[Busjack]

6 hours ago, MetroShadow said:

2 years later. and giving credit to @Busjack:  Metra has started a project to rename every line in the District.

Announcement on Metra's website

 

As I did. But aside from renaming the 3 lines, I don't care for any other of Metra's proposals,

 

1 hour ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

simply renaming everything to end of line also feels like a most likely scenario (although I'd be curious to see how they handle Joliet)

seems to make more sense to me. The catch in my mind is what to do with lines with short trips, i.e. the Kenosha line only to Waukegan, Highland Park or Winnetka, or the Fox Lake line only to Lake Forest (the station itself should be renamed Lake Forest West).

But I find the Survey Monkey way too long to be worth the effort, a color system would conflict with the L system on a unified RTA/MMA map, and a number system would be too much like the confusing NY subway system.

 

[strictures]

I think Metra ripped off their ideas from the Paris suburban rail system. Leave all the name as they are now, but sort of go back to the original names for the three UP lines, Kenosha Division, Crystal lake Division & West Chicago or Geneva Division!

[wayfaringrob]

I suspected they might attempt to rename the UP lines, but this is overkill. I don't see how M1, M2 etc. or the N1, W2, etc. naming is more useful, memorable, or easier to understand. With both alternatives, you can't look at the legend and then look at the map to find the line quickly. Good labels become a requirement. You have to look at this alphabet soup of a key and then do a lot more reading and scanning to figure it out. The numbers may as well be randomly assigned, and the lines get lost in each other closer to the loop. I don't see how making them all the same color (or few colors) helps discern them on a map, especially when the same color lines run through the same stations. Color is a useful aid at stations and segments with multiple lines. You can spot the yellow dot from a distance and say "oh good, UP NW that way." With so many lines, there is likely to be some proximity or redundancy especially between the CTA and Metra, but that can be handled in other ways such as line thickness, outlines, or other cartographic effects.

The naming itself just seems like it was done from 30,000 feet. Why is the northwest line considered north and not west? It completely severs any connection to geography and history. How is that more memorable? I thought they wanted to have fewer lines with redundant names like "north" and "west," and here they go making more redundancies with fewer points of distinction. At the very least, NW should stay NW and SW should stay SW. This would give them more flexibility to make the others unique as well - fewer lines vying to be the "North Line" or "West Line." They could be more creative than letters with numbers.

It seems like in wanting to make the system easier to navigate for infrequent riders, they are forgetting that they also tend to know them by their current names and colors, and switching them to mere codes could cause a lot of confusion and even poorer memorability. "I used to ride the Milwaukee West line downtown; now it's the W something and I'm not sure where it goes." These are the sentiments I'm imagining. I don't buy that renaming of any kind will lead to mode shift if that's their argument here. Adjusting the names is fine if it improves clarity and memorability, but these are not clear nor memorable. Amtrak does well with this: if they had named the Borealis the H7 or something like that, it would have less of an identity. I would have forgotten the letter and number combination overnight -- it becomes just an ephemeral identifier, a gate number, an auditing code, not a train for people. They need real, durable identities. I would favor lines named after historical events or geographic features - the Prairie Line, the Glacial Line, the Lakeshore North. Etc. This is exactly what London Overground just did - added well-researched and local names and colors to its system to make it easier to discern and navigate. We would move in the opposite direction with these proposals.

[artthouwill]

This reminds me when CTA President Kruesi once proposed changing the route numbers to " sumplify" things for the visitors, as uf renaming the L routes after colors wasn't good enough.   Leave the names alone.

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

This reminds me when CTA President Kruesi once proposed changing the route numbers to " sumplify" things for the visitors, as uf renaming the L routes after colors wasn't good enough.   Leave the names alone.

Except that, as I indicated 2 years ago and Metra said yesterday, it won't have the right to use the name "UP." It's sort of like if King Dr. were labelled CMC and Cottage Grove labelled CCRC. In effect, NY had a similar situation when Fifth Ave. Bus Co. became MBSTOA, but now it's all NYCT.

Nonetheless, I agree with those that say that only the UP lines need to be renamed.

[artthouwill]

4 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Except that, as I indicated 2 years ago and Metra said yesterday, it won't have the right to use the name "UP." It's sort of like if King Dr. were labelled CMC and Cottage Grove labelled CCRC. In effect, NY had a similar situation when Fifth Ave. Bus Co. became MBSTOA, but now it's all NYCT.

Nonetheless, I agree with those that say that only the UP lines need to be renamed.

I'm in agreement with the UP lines being changed.  I expected that.   I'm not in agreement with changing the names of the other lines.  Those who are new to the system or occasional users of Metra can learn how to use the system. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

1 hour ago, Busjack said:

seems to make more sense to me. The catch in my mind is what to do with lines with short trips, i.e. the Kenosha line only to Waukegan, Highland Park or Winnetka, or the Fox Lake line only to Lake Forest (the station itself should be renamed Lake Forest West).

Looking at the other agencies that specifically use end-of-line naming style:

• MBTA doesn't really do short trips, but for ones they do, both the common short trip and regular terminus are part of the name. This isn't consistent though (e.g. Fitchburg line has some trips ending at Littleton, but its not the Fitchburg/Littleton line)
• SEPTA is like MBTA, but more consistent
• LIRR uses entire lines as short trips for other lines and for the ones where they don't, they don't make a mention of calling them out (e.g. Massapequa trips on the Babylon line)

Metra will probably have to do some sort of hybridization, I think

[wayfaringrob]

It would certainly help with route identification if the service patterns had names separate from the routes in some way. Ex. a Lakeshore North (UP-N) Line as the corridor and line color, with Kenosha Express, Waukegan Express, Lakeshore North Local, etc as the services, sharing the same color.

[MetroShadow]

On 3/11/2025 at 8:05 PM, wayfaringrob said:

It would certainly help with route identification if the service patterns had names separate from the routes in some way. Ex. a Lakeshore North (UP-N) Line as the corridor and line color, with Kenosha Express, Waukegan Express, Lakeshore North Local, etc as the services, sharing the same color.

Metra LakeShore Line (UP-N), Metra Kaneland (UP-W), and Metra McHenry (UP-NW) names might be a good start...

[MetroShadow]

Latest CST article describing a (better?) naming convention.

[strictures]

North Shore Line does makes a lot of sense since the C&NW & the long defunct Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee R's Shore Line shared the right of way from Wilmette north & you can still see remnants of the platform pillars were the old electric line stations were, now the Green Bay Trail bike & walking path.  The C,NS &M abandoned the Shore Line in 1953.

[Busjack]

Trains Are Awesome has a video which intelligently discusses this subject. He has nailed down the 3 main issues:

• From which station does the train depart?
• Stop skipping patterns
• Branches

He's  correct though that something like "take any eastbound bus to the Metra Electric" doesn't make much sense, especially to a tourist, and there isn't a good way to get from Arlington Heights to Naperville except through downtown.