Suburban Transit Access Route (Metra)

The Suburban Transit Access Route (or STAR Line) is a proposed railway project in northwest and outer suburban Chicago, Illinois, USA. On January 30, 2003, Metra announced plans to build a new service line that would introduce a new fleet of Diesel multiple unit trains (DMUs) to connect nearly 100 communities in the region and form Metra's only suburb-to-suburb service. Currently all of Metra's services are oriented on suburb-to-city travel.

The route of the STAR line is planned to travel along the EJ&E right of way and in the median of the Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90). The tollway median was a proposed extension of the CTA Blue Line westward to Schaumburg. But these plans cancelled it. Very high ridership is expected due to its unique travel theme: around 80000 passengers a day The line will be 55 miles in length.

The preliminary cost estimate for the STAR Line was $1.1 billion. The project was authorized under the most recent federal transportation funding bill, SAFETEA-LU, in 2005. The project is currently undergoing Alternatives Analysis as the next step in the process to secure federal funding for the project.

Proposed Stations

• O'Hare Transfer Chicago
• Elmhurst Rd. Des Plaines/Mt. Prospect/Elk Grove Village
• Busse Rd. Elk Grove Village
• Arlington Heights Rd. Arlington Heights/Elk Grove Village
• Golf Rd. Rolling Meadows
• IKEA Schaumburg
• Roselle Rd. Schaumburg
• Barrington Rd. Hoffman Estates
• Prairie Stone Hoffman Estates
• Spaulding Elgin/Bartlett
• North Av. West Chicago
• West Chicago/Geneva
• Warrenville
• Aurora/Batavia
• Eola Aurora/Naperville
• Naperville
• Plainfield
• Division St. Joliet
• Joliet

References

• Official Metra New Starts site
• Northwest Municipal Conference

External links

• Updated Map (PDF)
• "Metra Connects" STAR line website
• Map of current EJ&E right-of-way