Milwaukee District West Line
A Milwaukee District West train at Roselle in 2009.
Overview
Owner	Metra (Dispatched by Canadian Pacific Kansas City)
Termini	Chicago Union Station Big Timber Road (weekdays) Elgin (weekends/holidays)
Stations	22
Website	metra.com/train-lines/md-w
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Metra, CPKC Railway
Daily ridership	22,100 (average weekday; 2009)[1]
Ridership	2,302,491 (2023)
Technical
Line length	39.8 mi (64.1 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map Milwaukee District West Line highlighted in orange Show interactive map Legend CPKC Railway 39.8 mi 64.1 km Big Timber Road/​Elgin AE&FRE Elgin–Carpentersville line Elgin & Belvidere 36.6 mi 58.9 km Elgin AE&FRE Aurora–Elgin line Elgin coach yard 36.0 mi 57.9 km National Street/​Elgin Fox River Chicago Aurora & Elgin to Wheaton Fox River Trail Kane County Cook County border Spaulding Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway 30.1 mi 48.4 km Bartlett Cook County tracks straddle county line 28.4 mi 45.7 km Hanover Park DuPage River (West Branch) 26.5 mi 42.6 km Schaumburg tracks straddle county line DuPage County 23.9 mi 38.5 km Roselle 23 mi 37 km Medinah I-290 21.1 mi 34 km Itasca Salt Creek Trail Salt Creek 19.1 mi 30.7 km Wood Dale 17.2 mi 27.7 km Bensenville DuPage County Cook County border Union Pacific Railroad I-490 (under construction) I-294 14.0 mi 22.5 km Mannheim 13.2 mi 21.2 km Franklin Park Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Canadian National Railway North Central Service to Antioch Des Plaines River Des Plaines River Trail 11.4 mi 18.3 km River Grove 10.2 mi 16.4 km Elmwood Park 9.5 mi 15.3 km Mont Clare 9.1 mi 14.6 km Mars 8.6 mi 13.8 km Galewood 7.7 mi 12.4 km Hanson Park 7.0 mi 11.3 km Cragin 6.5 mi 10.5 km Grand/​Cicero Belt Railway of Chicago 5.9 mi 9.5 km Hermosa Milwaukee District North Line to Fox Lake Amtrak to Milwaukee, St. Paul, Seattle, and Portland Bloomingdale Trail Western Ave. coach yard 2.9 mi 4.7 km Western Avenue Union Pacific West Line to Elburn Chicago "L" Logan Square branch I-90 / I-94 Blue to O'Hare  Union Pacific Northwest Line to Harvard or McHenry Union Pacific North Line to Kenosha Green Pink Blue to Forest Park Ogilvie TC 0 mi Chicago Union Station BNSF Line to Aurora Heritage Corridor to Joliet SouthWest Service to Manhattan Key Milwaukee District West Line Other Metra lines Metra Union Pacific lines Other freight lines CTA lines Former CTA lines/interurbans Mileage source[2] All stations are accessible except Mannheim. Show route diagram map

The Milwaukee District West Line (MD-W) is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. Metra does not refer to any of its lines by a particular color, but the timetable accents for the Milwaukee District West line are dark "Arrow Yellow," honoring the Milwaukee Road's Arrow passenger train.^[3] Trains are dispatched from the Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway's American headquarters in Minneapolis.

The line runs from Chicago Union Station through the western suburbs to Elgin, Illinois. As of February 15, 2024, the public timetable shows 52 trains (26 in each direction) operating on weekdays. Of these, 19 inbound trains originate from Big Timber Road, three from Elgin, one from National Street, and three from Franklin Park. Three outbound trains terminate at Franklin Park, one at National Street, and the remainder terminate at Big Timber Road.

On weekends, Metra operates 12 roundtrips on Saturdays and nine on Sundays and holidays, all running between Union Station and Elgin. There is no weekend or holiday service to Big Timber Road.

The line runs on the CPKC Railway's Elgin Subdivision (ex-Milwaukee Road line to Omaha).

In 1982, the Milwaukee Road Elgin Line was sold to the newly created Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Rail Corporation which ran commuter trains for the Milwaukee Road while the latter underwent reorganization. The Milwaukee Road retained ownership of the line until 1986. Metra formally purchased the Milwaukee District (the only other being the Milwaukee District North Line) from the Soo Line Railroad (which took the bankrupt Milwaukee Road under its wing in 1985) in 1987. The Soo Line then ran freight trains on the line via trackage rights until it was absorbed into the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1990. CP Railway merged with the Kansas City Southern Railway in April 2023 into the Canadian Pacific Kansas City, or CPKC.

Metra has included the possibility of extending the Milwaukee District West Line along one of two routes in their Cost Benefit Analysis report. If this were to happen, the line could continue west via CPKC trackage to Hampshire, with an additional stop in Pingree Grove. Alternatively, the line could switch to the Union Pacific Railroad's Belvidere line (ex-Chicago & North Western line to Freeport) and travel northwest from Big Timber Road to Marengo, with additional stops in Gilberts, Huntley, and Union.^[4] In 2023, Governor J. B. Pritzker selected Metra to operate new intercity passenger rail beyond Big Timber Road to Rockford using the Milwaukee District West Line, with intermediate stops in Belvidere, Huntley, and at one of the three existing Metra stations in Elgin. The service would provide additional capacity to the existing line; introducing express reverse commute and expanded weekend options between Elgin and Union Station.^[5] The village of Huntley withdrew its support of the project in October 2025.^[6] The extension is scheduled to open in 2027, making it the first passenger rail service to connect Chicago and Rockford after the discontinuation of Amtrak's Black Hawk service in 1981.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined 15% from 6,946,268 to 5,904,808.^[11][12] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 1,480,973 passengers in 2020.^[13][14]

The MD-W line's locomotive fleet consists of mainly MPI MP36PH-3C diesel-electric locomotives, with some EMD F40PH locomotives. The line also operates ex-GO Transit EMD F59PH locomotives. The fleet is pooled with the fleets for the North Central Service and the Milwaukee District North Line. As of 2016, three of these locomotives are in operation.

Coaches, or passenger railcars, consist mostly of Nippon Sharyo railcars built in the early 2000s. Cab cars are Nippon Sharyo built. Budd-built railcars also operate on the line, but the cab cars built by Budd have not been in use since the delivery of the newer railcars.

County	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
Kane	4	Elgin	Big Timber Road/​Elgin	Pace: 550
			Elgin	Pace: 541, 542, 543, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 552, 554, 603, 801 (at Elgin Transportation Center)
			National Street/​Elgin	Pace: 546, 801
Cook
		Elgin/Bartlett	Spaulding	Closed 1971
	4	Bartlett	Bartlett
DuPage/ Cook		Hanover Park	Hanover Park	Pace: 554 Formerly called Ontarioville
		Schaumburg	Schaumburg
DuPage		Roselle	Roselle
	3	Medinah	Medinah
		Itasca	Itasca
		Wood Dale	Wood Dale
		Bensenville	Bensenville	Pace: 319, 332
Cook	2	Franklin Park	Mannheim	Pace: 319, 330
			Franklin Park	Pace: 303, 319
		River Grove	River Grove	Metra: North Central Service Pace: 319, 331
		Elmwood Park	Elmwood Park	Pace: 319
		Chicago	Mont Clare	CTA buses:  65   74
			Mars
			Galewood	CTA buses:  86
			Hanson Park	CTA buses:  65   85
			Cragin	Closed in 2006, replaced by Grand/​Cicero
			Grand/​Cicero	CTA buses:  54   65   73
			Hermosa	Closed in 2006, replaced by Grand/​Cicero
			Western Avenue	Metra: Milwaukee District North, North Central Service CTA buses:  49   X49   65
			Ashland–Ogden	Proposed station; to open in 2032[15]
	1		Union Station	Amtrak (long-distance): California Zephyr, Cardinal, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Floridian, Lake Shore Limited, Southwest Chief, Texas Eagle Amtrak (intercity): Blue Water, Borealis, Hiawatha, Illini and Saluki, Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg, Lincoln Service, Pere Marquette, Wolverine Metra: BNSF, Heritage Corridor, Milwaukee District North, North Central Service, SouthWest Service Chicago "L": Blue (at Clinton), Brown Orange Pink Purple (at Quincy) CTA buses:  1   7   J14   19   28   56   60   120   121   124   125   126   128   130   151   156   157   192  Pace: 755 Amtrak Thruway: Chicago–Madison and Chicago–Rockford (Van Galder), Chicago–Louisville (Greyhound)

• Metra Milwaukee District/West Archived June 21, 2016, at the Wayback Machine service schedule

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