SouthEast Service
Overview
Status	Proposed
Locale	Chicago and southern suburbs
Termini	LaSalle Street Station Balmoral Park
Stations	13
Service
Type	Commuter Rail
System	Metra
Technical
Line length	33 mi (53 km)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Legend Blue toO'Hare  toForest Park LaSalle 0mi LaSalle Street Station RedtoHoward IC West toRandolph Street Amtrak toCarbondale &New Orleans IC West to Addison (1892-1931) Amtrak toUnion Station GreentoHarlem/​Lake Orangeto theLoop OrangetoMidway  I-55 3.2 mi 5.1 km 35th Street Chicago "L" Stock Yards branch 47th/49th Street shops & yard GreentoAshland/​63rd GreentoCottage Grove Amtrak toMichigan,Miami, New York, andBoston 6.7 mi 10.8 km Englewood Union Station Redto95th/​Dan Ryan│I-90 /I-94 7.2 mi 11.6 km Normal Park 7.8 mi 12.6 km Hamilton Park toManhattan(planned) CardinaltoUnion Station 8.6 mi 13.8 km Auburn Park (under construction) 9.8 mi 15.8 km Gresham Beverly Branch toBlue Island–Vermont Street Main Line toJoliet Chicago Rail Link RedtoHoward (planned) I-57 13 mi 21 km 115th Street │ Michigan toMillennium Station AmtraktoUnion Station toUniversity Park orBlue Island Redto130th (planned) Amtrak toCarbondale orNew Orleans Calumet River CSX Transportation Indiana Harbor Belt 16 mi 26 km Dolton 19 mi 31 km South Holland Little Calumet River CSX Transportation AmtrakCardinal toNew York I-80 /I-294 21 mi 34 km Thornton 23 mi 37 km Glenwood 26 mi 42 km Chicago Heights EJ&E Railway 27 mi 43 km South Chicago Heights 28 mi 45 km Steger 30 mi 48 km Crete 33 mi 53 km Balmoral Park Union Pacific Railroad This diagram: view talk edit

TheSouthEast Service is a proposedcommuter rail line to be operated byMetra, thecommuter railroad service for theChicago metropolitan area. The route of the proposed line would use tracks owned byCSX Transportation and theUnion Pacific Railroad.^[1]

Formerly, theChicago and Western Indiana Railroad and theChicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad operated commuter service on this line out ofDearborn Station toDolton andMomence, respectively. The Chicago and Eastern Illinois commuter line to Momence ended in 1935, while the Chicago and Western Indiana service to Dolton was discontinued in 1964.

The building of a line from Chicago to the south suburbs ending at Balmoral Park has been discussed as early as 1986.^[2] In 2003, Metra officials proposed the SouthEast Service at the insistence of CongressmanJesse Jackson, Jr. that the south suburbs be included as part of Metra's larger request for federal dollars after they were largely excluded from the proposedSTAR Line.^[3][4] Its northern terminus would beLaSalle Street Station in downtown Chicago.^[1] The line would then traverse Chicago's southern neighborhoods and its southern and far southern suburbs toBalmoral Park south ofCrete, Illinois. Its average daily ridership was projected to be 9000.^[1] A fleet ofDiesel Multiple Units (DMUs) has been proposed for this service.^[1]

In 2005, the SouthEast Service received initial funding authorization.^[5] In 2010,Al Riley became the chief sponsor of House Bill 1644 which created the Southeast Commuter Rail Transit District as a municipal corporation under Illinois state law. The district created has the right of eminent domain to acquire private property which is necessary for the purposes of the district and the power to contract for public mass transportation with Metra. The district includes Crete, Steger, South Chicago Heights, Chicago Heights, Glenwood, Thornton, South Holland, Dolton, Calumet City, Lansing, and Lynwood. The bill was signed into law by GovernorPat Quinn on March 8, 2011.^[6]

According to theChicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's ONTO 2050 regionally significant projects benefit report published in October 2018, the SouthEast Service is undergoingalternatives analysis and the identification of a Locally PreferredAlternative is in process.^[7] In 2019, the SouthEast Service was included in a Cost Benefit Analysis by Metra as a Tier 2 project.^[8] As of 2022, the project is on hold as more studies were needed to determine the cost of running the line.^[9]

TheCenter for Neighborhood Technology, an advocate for the new line, estimates that the SouthEast Service would more than double the number of average jobs accessible by transit in sixty minutes for the south suburbs on the line.^[10] In a 2016 letter to the editor,Martin J. Oberman, while the Chairman of Metra, supported the SouthEast Service.^[11]

From north to south:^[1][3]

• LaSalle Street Station
• 35th Street
• Gresham
• 115th Street, which would be a transfer station for theMichigan station on the CTARed Line extention.
• Dolton
• South Holland. In 2012 South Holland spent $1.3 million to purchase land at 236 East 161st Place for the station.^[12]
• Thornton
• Glenwood. According to the 2010 Village of Glenwood Station Area Plan, potential station locations in Glenwood include a station located mid‐way between Main and Center Streets along Young Street.^[13]
• Chicago Heights. As of 2012, Chicago Heights has been assembling land for the creation of a station near its downtown.^[14]
• South Chicago Heights. According to their 2008 Comprehensive Plan, the station would be located near the intersection of Sauk Trail and Jackson Avenue.^[15]
• Steger
• Crete
• Balmoral Park

• Metra lines
• Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad
• Proposed railway lines in Illinois
• South Holland, Illinois

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata