Project Management Oversight (PMO) Capital Projects

This project will provide design and construction funds for large-scale yard improvement projects at the various yards utilized by Metra. Sub-projects may include, but may not be limited to, the improvement or replacement of machines and equipment, upgrades to buildings and crew facilities, and the construction of new equipment and systems. Project activities may include, but are not limited to, HVAC and MEP system upgrades, securing hazardous and flammable materials, fire suppression system improvements, track renewal, new crosswalks, and yard platforms, replacing switch machines and components, and other activities. This project will allow for flexibility to implement high-priority yard improvements between districts that are integral to the continuation of Metra’s safe and reliable operations.

This project will fund the installation of shelters at stations across the system, which will provide on-demand heat. Specific locations are to be determined, based on existing conditions and demand. Shelters will be pre-fabricated structures and may include on-demand heating elements.

This project funds the continued rehabilitation of self-propelled electric cars used on the Metra Electric. The cars delivered between 2005 and 2007. This first rehabilitation may include, but is not limited to, repair of the car body structure, interior components, and overhaul of propulsion control systems.

A complete renovation of the downtown Chicago terminal station will rehabilitate the existing historic waiting rooms, replace the roof assembly while maintaining the green roof, and will replace the pedestrian tunnel in the park. A new 'pop-up' entrance in Grant Park will add a new access stair case and elevator and add an ADA-compliant ramp connecting to the pedestrian bridge. The pedestrian tunnel under Michigan Ave will be waterproofed and a new elevator will be added to the Jackson Blvd platform. The scope of work includes rehabilitation of the stair enclosures and elevator west of Michigan Avenue, replacement of the platforms, new full-length platform canopies, heated warming shelters, construction of a new vendor space at lower level, and all new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing throughout the station.

Replacement of HVAC systems that are beyond their useful life at the California Ave. Yard.

This project will fund the rehabilitation of the 95th Street / Chicago State University Station on the Metra Electric Line in Chicago. The project elements may include the replacement and/or rehabilitation of station platforms, new lighting, rehabilitation of the headhouse, repair or replacement of roofs, installation of warming shelters, new platform amenities, and other related work. The project may also include wayfinding signage or other station identifiers. A new tunnel entrance will be added and parking facility upgrades will be completed. The station will be made fully accessible with the addition of elevators.

This project will fund the professional services of a consultant team to provide additional program management capacity made necessary by the extra funding from the state of Illinois. Funds programmed in 2022 will finance the second year of a five-year agreement with WSP Inc. for professional services under the Project Management Oversight (PMO) contract awarded by Metra’s Board in August 2020.

This project will replace the 16th Street interlocking with a modern solid-state automated electronic system at a junction with tracks owned by Canadian National (CN) near 16th Street in Chicago. The 16th Street interlocking plant consists of an obsolete manual interlocking with two outdated hand lever machines built in 1901 and 1929. There are no manufacturers of spare or replacement equipment for these machines.

The new station in the Auburn Park neighborhood of Chicago will feature a platform-length canopy and heated headhouse with two elevators. The station will include a center boarding platform with a staircase down to street level entrance tunnel, a landscaped plaza with benches, canopy, bicycle parking, and a vendor space Metra will lease. A parking lot will include 79 parking stalls, 5 ADA parking spaces, and a passenger drop-off lane. The new station will be fully ADA accessible.

This project, a Public-Private Partnership between Metra and the Union Pacific Railroad, will constructtwo new segments of third mainline track on the Union Pacific West Line. One of the segments will bebetween the Vale Interlocking at milepost 10.0 in River Forest and the 25th Avenue Interlocking atmilepost 11.8 in Melrose Park. The other segment will be between the Kress Interlocking at milepost32.1 in West Chicago and the Peck Interlocking at milepost 38.4 in Geneva.Improvements are anticipated for all four of the interlockers that bookend the two segments. Additionally,a new interlocker may be constructed at milepost 35.4 between the Kress and Peck interlockers, whichwill increase operational flexibility. The interlocker improvements and additions will be constructed tomeet Positive Train Control requirements.Improvements along both segments will include, but not be limited to, trackwork, earthwork, sub-ballast,structures, signal infrastructure, interlocking upgrades, and all work necessary at highway gradecrossings. Bridge improvements will be needed over both the Des Plaines River and the Fox River toallow for the third mainline track. The project will also include platform relocations and improvements atboth the Maywood and Melrose Park stations, and platform, platform shelter, and parking improvementsat the Geneva station. Lastly, land acquisition may be required at various locations along the twosegments in areas where the right of way is not wide enough to accommodate the third main track withinthe track centers required by the Union Pacific.