This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Union Pacific North Line" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Union Pacific North Line
A southbound train departsHighland Park station
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Union Pacific Railroad
Locale	Chicago metropolitan area
Termini	Ogilvie Transportation Center Waukegan (Most trips) Kenosha
Stations	28
Website	metra.com/train-lines/up-n
Service
Type	Commuter rail
System	Metra
Operator(s)	Metra
Daily ridership	41,000 (Avg. Weekday 2009)[1]
Ridership	4,131,189 (2023)
Technical
Line length	51.6 miles (83.0 km)[2]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Union Pacific North Line highlighted in dark green Show interactive map Legend 00.0 km former route toMilwaukee   Amtrak toSt. Paul, Seattle, orPortland Lake Front Depot 84.2 mi 135.5 km Milwaukee (1966-1971) Menomonee River Milwaukee River National Avenue Kinnickinnic River Amtrak toUnion Station 78.2 mi 125.9 km Cudahy 74.7 mi 120.2 km South Milwaukee 61.8 mi 99.5 km Racine Root River Kenosha coach yard 51.5 mi 82.9 km Kenosha 120.2 km KD Line to Rockford Kenosha County Lake County , Wisconsin Illinois border 44.5 mi 71.6 km Winthrop Harbor 43.1 mi 69.4 km Camp Logan 42.1 mi 67.8 km Zion 39.9 mi 64.2 km Dunes Park 37.6 mi 60.5 km Asbestos Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway 35.9 mi 57.8 km Waukegan Waukegan coach yard 34.0 mi 54.7 km Abbott's Platform 33.7 mi 54.2 km North Chicago Robert McClory Bike Path North Shore Line to Waukegan or Milwaukee 32.0 mi 51.5 km Great Lakes 30.2 mi 48.6 km Lake Bluff North Shore Line/Bike Path to Mundelein Union Pacific Railroad 28.3 mi 45.5 km Lake Forest 25.7 mi 41.4 km Fort Sheridan 24.5 mi 39.4 km Highwood Green Bay Trail 23 mi 37 km Highland Park 21.5 mi 34.6 km Ravinia 20.9 mi 33.6 km Ravinia Park (seasonal) 20.5 mi 33 km Braeside   Lake County Cook County border North Branch Trail 19.2 mi 30.9 km Glencoe 17.7 mi 28.5 km Hubbard Woods 16.6 mi 26.7 km Winnetka 15.8 mi 25.4 km Indian Hill 15.2 mi 24.5 km Kenilworth 14.4 mi 23.2 km Wilmette North Shore Line to theLoop 13.3 mi 21.4 km Evanston Central Street North Shore Channel Weber Subdivision toUnion Pacific Northwest Line PurpletoLinden 12.0 mi 19.3 km Evanston Davis Street Pulse Dempster Line toO'Hare MMF 11.5 mi 18.5 km Dempster Street 11.0 mi 17.7 km Evanston Main Street 10.3 mi 16.6 km Calvary PurpletoHoward or theLoop Yellow toDempster–Skokie toHoward 9.4 mi 15.1 km Rogers Park 8.4 mi 13.5 km Kenmore 8.1 mi 13 km Peterson/​Ridge 7.8 mi 12.6 km Rose Hill 7.1 mi 11.4 km Summerdale 6.5 mi 10.5 km Ravenswood BrowntoKimball 6.2 mi 10 km Ravenswood–Wilson 5.5 mi 8.9 km Northcenter Brownto theLoop 4.6 mi 7.4 km Belmont Avenue 3.5 mi 5.6 km Deering Chicago River (north branch) Union Pacific Northwest Line toHarvard orMcHenry 2.9 mi 4.7 km Clybourn Chicago Terminal Railroad Union Pacific West Line toElburn BluetoO'Hare  Kinzie Street Depot Chicago River (north branch) Wells Street Station Metra &Amtrak toUnion Station GreenPink BluetoForest Park 0mi Ogilvie Transportation Center Key Union Pacific North Line / former alignment Metra Milwaukee District lines other Metra lines other freight lines / former alignment CTA lines / tunnel formerinterurban lines paths &rail trails Pace Pulse Mileage source[3] All stations are accessible except Clybourn,Indian Hill, andHubbard Woods. This diagram: view talk edit Show route diagram map

TheUnion Pacific North Line (UP-N) is aMetra line in theChicago metropolitan area. It runs betweenOgilvie Transportation Center andKenosha, Wisconsin; however, most trains terminate inWaukegan, Illinois. Although Metra owns the rolling stock, the trains are operated and dispatched by theUnion Pacific Railroad. This line was previously operated by theChicago & North Western Railway before its merger with theUnion Pacific Railroad, and was called theChicago and North Western Milwaukee Division and then theChicago & North Western/North Line before the C&NW was absorbed by Union Pacific in April 1995. It is the only Metra line that travels outside Illinois.

Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, but the timetable accents for the Union Pacific North line are dark "Flambeau Green," a nod to the C&NW'sFlambeau 400passenger train.^[4]

Until 2022,a private club car ran weekdays exclusively on the Union Pacific North Line. It was the last remaining private car in service on a commuter railroad in the United States.

The current timetable as of September 20, 2025 shows 71 trains (35 inbound, 36 outbound) on weekdays. Of these, ten inbound trains originate fromKenosha, 16 fromWaukegan, seven fromHighland Park, and two fromWinnetka. Four outbound trains terminate at Winnetka, six at Highland Park, 17 at Waukegan, and nine at Kenosha.

Fifteen trains operate in each direction on weekends and holidays. Of these, eight inbound trains originate from Kenosha and seven originate from Waukegan. Seven outbound trains terminate at Waukegan and eight terminate at Kenosha.

During the summer concert season, on weekends, an extra outbound train, named RAV1, makes all stops to Winnetka, then runs express toRavinia Park during events, with a train returning toChicago after the concert.

The route followed by the UP North Line was constructed in 1854 by theChicago & Milwaukee Railroad.^[5] Passenger service between Chicago and Waukegan began on January 4, 1855. Initially, a single train operated each day, departing from a terminal in Chicago at Water St. and Kinzie St. at 8:30 am and returning from Waukegan at 3:30 pm.^[6][7] The president of the railroad, former Chicago mayorWalter S. Gurnee, speculated on land inLake County spurring the development of railway suburbs along the line.^[8] The railroad merged with the Green Bay, Milwaukee & Chicago Railroad in 1863, and was acquired by theChicago and North Western Railway in 1866.^[7][9] Commuter rail services along the line started operating into the new Chicago and North Western Terminal (nowOgilvie Transportation Center) in 1911. In 1966, the Chicago and North Western closed theLake Front Depot and began operating into the newMilwaukee Union Station. This service would ultimately prove to be relatively short lived as the Chicago and North Western ended operations between Chicago and Milwaukee in 1971 and the line was truncated to Kenosha.

The North line became part of Metra when the agency was formed in 1984. The trains continued to be operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway under contract until that railroad was bought by Union Pacific in 1995. UP now operates passenger services along the line for Metra. Under a longstanding agreement that UP inherited from the C&NW, Metra owns the vehicles and the stations along the line, but Union Pacific employs the crew who actually operate the trains, and they also control the right-of-way along the route.

Beginning in 2023, the Union Pacific Railroad announced that commuter operations on all three of the Union Pacific lines would be transferred to Metra; the Union Pacific would continue to own and maintain the right-of-way.^[10][11] The transfer was initially expected to occur by Q1 2024;^[12] however, it was delayed by a year to May 16, 2025.^[13][14][15]

All stations on the line except for Ravinia Park are open daily. Ravinia Park is only open during theRavinia Festival in the summer months.

Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined by 8.3% from 9,328,441 passengers to 8,552,117 passengers.^[16][17] Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 2,300,363 passengers in 2020.^[18][19] As of October 2024, the line has Metra's highest ridership recovery rate at 83% of pre-pandemic weekday ridership. Peak-direction ridership is at 70% of pre-pandemic numbers, while all other metrics (reverse-peak, midday, evening, Saturday, and Sunday ridership) is at or above pre-pandemic ridership.^[20]

The service shares theUnion Pacific Railroad's Harvard Subdivision with theUnion Pacific Northwest Line from Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago to a junction just beforeClybourn station. From Clybourn, the North Line splits from the Northwest Line and traverses the Kenosha Subdivision north toKenosha, Wisconsin. The Kenosha Subdivision continues toSt. Francis, Wisconsin and a junction with the Union Pacific's Milwaukee Subdivision.^[21] No passenger trains operate north of Kenosha.

TheGreen Bay Trail parallels the Union Pacific North Line, using the former right of way of theNorth Shore Line for over 51.9 miles (83.5 km) from theChicago Loop toKenosha, Wisconsin.

State	County	Zone	Location	Station	Connections and notes
WI	Milwaukee
			Milwaukee	Lake Front Depot	Closed 1966
				Union Station	Closed April 30, 1971
				National Avenue	Closed between 1943 and 1956
			Cudahy	Cudahy	Closed 1957
			South Milwaukee	South Milwaukee	Closed between 1956 and 1961
	Racine
			Racine	Racine	Closed April 30, 1971
	Kenosha	4	Kenosha	Kenosha	Kenosha Area Transit: 1, 4 Kenosha Streetcar
IL	Lake		Winthrop Harbor	Winthrop Harbor
			Zion	Camp Logan	Closed after October 28, 1956, servedCamp Logan
				Zion	Pace: 571
			Beach Park	Dunes Park	Closed after October 28, 1956
			Waukegan	Asbestos	Closed after October 28, 1956
		4		Waukegan	Pace: 561, 562, 563, 564, 565, 568, 571, 572
			North Chicago	Abbott's Platform	Closed 1986[22]
				North Chicago	Pace: 563, 564
				Great Lakes	Pace: 563
			Lake Bluff	Lake Bluff
			Lake Forest	Lake Forest
			Highwood	Fort Sheridan	Pace: 472
				Highwood	Pace: 472
			Highland Park	Highland Park	Pace: 213, 471, 472
		3		Ravinia
				Ravinia Park	Seasonal
				Braeside
	Cook		Glencoe	Glencoe	Pace: 213
			Winnetka	Hubbard Woods	Pace: 213
				Winnetka	Pace: 213, 423
				Indian Hill	Pace: 213
			Kenilworth	Kenilworth	Pace: 213
		2	Wilmette	Wilmette	Pace: 213, 421, 422
			Evanston	Evanston Central Street	CTA Bus: 201, 206 Pace: 213
				Evanston Davis Street	Chicago "L":Purple(atDavis) CTA Bus: 93, 201, 206 Pace: 208, 213, 250 Pace Pulse: 101 Dempster Line
				Dempster Street	Closed December 1, 1958
				Evanston Main Street	Chicago "L":Purple(atMain) CTA Bus: 206 Pace: 213
				Calvary	Closed December 1, 1958
			Chicago	Rogers Park	CTA Bus: 22, 96
				Kenmore	Closed December 1, 1958,[23] replaced with Peterson/Ridge
				Peterson/​Ridge	CTA Bus: 84
				Rose Hill	Closed December 1, 1958[23]
				Summerdale	Closed December 1, 1958[23]
				Ravenswood	Chicago "L":Brown(atDamen) CTA Bus: 9, 81
				Ravenswood–Wilson	Closed after July 3, 1963, replaced with Ravenswood
				Northcenter	Closed December 1, 1958
				Belmont Avenue	Closed December 1, 1958
				Deering	Closed after June 13, 1943
		2		Clybourn	Metra:■ Union Pacific Northwest CTA Bus: 9, X9, 73
				Kinzie Street Depot	Closedc. 1879
				Wells Street Station	Closed 1911, replaced by the Chicago and Northwestern Terminal (Ogilvie Transportation Center)
		1		Ogilvie Transportation Center	Metra:■ Union Pacific Northwest,■ Union Pacific West Chicago "L":GreenPink (atClinton) CTA Bus: J14, 19, 56, 60, 120, 124, 125, 126, 128, 130, 157, 192

• Kenosha–Racine–Milwaukee rail service, a proposed restoration of passenger service between Kenosha and Milwaukee.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMetra Union Pacific/North Line.

• Metra Union Pacific/North service schedule

• Metra lines
• Chicago and North Western Railway
• Union Pacific North Line

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from July 2024
• All articles needing additional references
• Use mdy dates from April 2012
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles using KML from Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension