New Bi-Level Rail Cars Purchase

This map shows the location of the project. For projects that do not have a specific location but affect a line/route or the entire system, either the affected lines/routes are shown, or an entire service area map is shown.

If you select the option to “toggle the benefit layer,” you will see an approximation of the area that will benefit from the project.

Each capital project is measured on 15 evaluation metrics to better understand its impact on the region. Learn more about the metrics and see a legend for all measures here.

Click the circled (i) information button to read a definition of each metric and hover over the image to see more about each measure.

The degree to which a project improves regional access to the region’s key destinations. Including jobs, retail, healthcare, recreation, and education.

The project improvements to existing assets to make them partially or fully accessible. Including station/stop and area improvements, vehicle accessibility, and accessible communications.

The project impact to ratings from the FTA Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM).

The project’s minor or major benefits to riders and what proportion of the agency’s riders will benefit from it.

The project impact on overall capacity, reflecting current and planned levels of utilization.

The project impact on reductions or offsets to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated from transit operations.

Project impacts on land use and development, construction, and long-term jobs.

The distribution of project benefits to location(s) identified under the USDOT Justice40 Program.

The project impact to maintenance or improvement of exposure to risk for riders/employees and the project impact to security enhancement.

The project impact on operating costs.

The project impact to maintenance or improvement of exposure to risk for riders/employees and the project impact to security enhancement.

Project impact on maintenance or improvement of service speed and reliability, considering both direct and indirect impacts.

If required, whether or not the project complies with federal, state, local, or other regulatory mandates.

The project impact to climate benefits, such as a reduction in emissions, generated from mode shift to transit and away from private auto-use.

The project impact to average vehicle ages, compared with Service board benchmarks to prioritize replacing vehicles that are beyond their useful life.

Evaluation Metric Measure
Access to Key Destinations i
Black line with arrows on each end

Maintains Access to Key Destinations

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Accessibility Improvement(s) i
Two green up arrows

Makes assets fully accessible

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Asset Condition (FTA TERM Rating) i
Not applicable symbol

Project does not have an asset rating

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Benefit to Riders i
Two green up arrows

Significant benefit to riders

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Capacity Benefit and Need i
Two green up arrows

Project increases capacity of transit operations near capacity

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Climate Agency Operating Impacts i
One green down arrow

Supports moderate reduction in emissions

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Economic Impact i
Not applicable symbol

No economic impact

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Equity Based on Residential Geography i
Not applicable symbol

Project is not location specific or benefits entire service area

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Impact on Customer and Employee Safety i
Two green up arrows

Project directly provides safety benefit/improvement

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Impact on Operating Cost i
One green down arrow

Decreases operating cost

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Impact on System Security i
Two green up arrows

Project implements new security protection and/or prevention

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Impact to Service Speed/Reliability i
Two green up arrows

Significantly improves speed/reliability

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Regulatory Requirements i
Green check mark

Project Meets Regulatory Requirements

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Ridership/Mode Shift Impacts i
Two green up arrows

Significantly improves transit ridership

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Vehicle Useful Life i
Red gear

Over 2 years past useful life

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Project Description

Metra executed a contract in 2021 to purchase modern, multilevel railcars which will allow Metra to retire railcars built between 1953 and 1979. Metra's new railcars will have two entranceways on each side with doors nearly level to with boarding platforms which make the railcars easier to board. The new railcars will include numerous safety advancements, require significantly less maintenance, and will increase the reliability of the railcar fleet. Funding for the project will be utilized for the base order of 200 new railcars and contract "options" to order additional units as available funding affords.