In the News

WBBM Radio, March 5, 2007

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The demographics of the Chicago area are changing and that's leading Metra to inaugurate its first reverse commute service.

WBBM's Regine Schlesinger reports.

State Senator Susan Garrett of Lake Forest says you don't need a lot of research to understand that more people than ever are living in the city and working in the suburbs.

"All you have to do," she says, "is to get on any one of the expressways at 7 or 8 in the morning and you can see the traffic congestion coming from the city of Chicago."

So now, after two years of planning and armed with a federal grant, Metra will begin its first reverse commute train. The Sunrise Express will leave downtown and arrive in Waukegan before 7 in the morning with stops along the way.

Garrett hopes it will get the reverse commuters out of their cars and ease traffic gridlock during rush hour. She says if the Sunrise Express works, Metra could expand reverse commute service into other suburban areas. In her words, "I hope this is the wave of the future."

The Sunrise Express is due to begin service in about a month at a cost of about half a million dollars, with half the money coming from federal funds and the other half from the state.