2020 PROPOSED OPERATING & CAPITAL PROGRAM & BUDGET UP-N o T ILLINOIS / WISCONSIN STATE LINE Kenosha Winthrop Harbor McHENRY Antioch NCS LAKE Zion MD-N Lake Villa UP-NW Fox Lake Harvard Ingleside Round Lake Beach Long Lake Washington St. Waukegan McHenry Round Lake (Grayslake) Grayslake Prairie Crossing North Chicago Prairie Crossing N Great Lakes METRA BOARD Woodstock Libertyville Lake Bluff LAKE Mundelein MICHIGAN OF DIRECTORS Lake Forest Crystal Lake Cary Lake Norman Carlson Pingree Rd. Vernon Hills Forest Fort Sheridan Chairman Prairie View Highwood Fox River Grove Buffalo Grove Highland Park Deerfield Lake County Ravinia Barrington Braeside Lake Cook Wheeling Romayne C. Brown Rd. Glencoe Northbrook Hubbard Woods Vice Chairman KANE COOK Palatine Prospect Winnetka Heights N. Glenview Indian Hill Cook County Arlington Park Kenilworth MD-W Arlington Heights Glenview Wilmette Big Timber Central St. (Evanston) Mt. Prospect Golf John Plante Elgin Cumberland Des Plaines Davis St. (Evanston) O' Dee Road Morton Grove National St. Hare Trans Main St. (Evanston) Treasurer h Park (Elgin) Bartlett fer Edgebrook Rogers Park a Ridge Hanover Park Schaumburg Roselle Edison Park Suburban Cook County Medina R Forest Glen Itasc osemo Norwood Park ood Dale nt W Schiller Park Gladstone Park Mayfair Bensenville Jefferson Park Frankli Ravenswood n Park Irving Rodney S. Craig DU PAGE k Park G River Grove ray Elmwood Park land Mont Clare n Secretary Mars Clybourn ve. Galewood Healy UP-W Hanson Par n Elmhurst Franklin Park Villa Park Mannheim est Chicago Suburban Cook County Berkeley ster CHICAGO k e W Lombard Grand/ W Maywood Oa Park River Forest Glen Elly Cicero Elburn Winfield College A Wheaton e. La Fox Van Buren Av Geneva e Kedzie ) Don A. De Graff ) ergne Museum Campus/11th St. Bellwood wyn Cicero 18th St. LaV Melrose Park Ber n Harlem McCormick Place Director Riversid ster Halsted Hollywood We 27th St. estern Springs ville W 35th St./ d Suburban Cook County Hinsdale Clarendon Hills (Downers Grove (Downers Grove “Lou” Jones 47th St. e. 53rd St. Naper Route 59 Aurora Av 55th-56th-57th St. e. Brookfiel Summit 59th nd Lisle Av 63rd Stone Stony Islan Mawrhore Congress Park ry S k Cory L. Thames B uth Par stmont La Grange Rd. So Main St. Belmont Highlands sor view Wrightwood 75th Wind We st Hinsdale 79th 79th St. Director Ashburn Brainerd Fair 83rd 83rd St. BNSF We Willow Springs Oak 91st St. Gresham 87th 87th St. Chicago Lawn 95th St. 91st St. 93rd St. 95th St. Chicago Ridge 99th St. 95th St. 103rd St. 103rd St. 107th St. 107th St. Worth 111th St. Washington Hghts. 111th St. (Pullman) WILL 115th St. Ken Koehler Palos Heights 119th St. 115th St. (Kensington) . e e n g Lemont 123rd St. St a d ve. Av e t Prairie k A Palos Park a t Ri ta ne ullm Director i r O S P nd c (Blue Island) a Vermont St. la land W. Ra SS ew s sh I Burr Romeoville A St 143rd St. e 13 He Robbins lu 7t To S. B g McHenry County (Orland Park) h S e Bend 144th t. wi (Rive sch Midlothian St r . dale 147th (I ) van 153rd St. S ho t. e) (Orland Park) Oak Forest (Sibl Lockport ey Steven K. Messerli Harvey Blvd. Tinley Park ) Hazel Crest Director 179th St. Calumet New Le (Orland Park) Tinley Park/ 80th Ave. Homewood Kane County HC no x Hickory Creek Flossmoor Joliet Mokena-Front St. Olympia Fields Stephen Palmer RI 211th St. (Lincoln Hwy.) Laraway Road Matteson (New Lenox) Director Richton Park Suburban Cook County ME University Park ILLINOIS / INDIANA STATE LINE Manhattan John P. Zediker SWS Director DuPage County Vacant Director Will County TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Message from the Chairman and CEO 2 System Overview 3 2020 Funding Overview 8 Ridership 9 Fares 10 Fare Initiatives 11 Organization 15 Oversight 16 Strategic Plan Update 21 Capital Program 23 2020 Budget Overview 26 Appendix 1 PROPOSED OPERATING and CAPITAL PROGRAM and BUDGET A Message from the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer on behalf of the Metra Board of Directors and Staff Metra is entering its 2020 fiscal year in a substantially When that PAYGO funding is added to another pot better position than it was in a year ago, and for that of money from a new state bond program, Metra we have Springfield to thank. By approving the first expects to receive more than $1.4 billion from Illinois statewide capital program in 10 years, the Legislature over the next five years. To put that amount in and Gov. J. B. Pritzker have thrown a lifeline to Metra perspective, our last infusion of capital funding from and other entities across the state that were starved the state, in 2009, was $836 million over a 10-year for infrastructure funding. For the first time in a long period. And when you add the state capital funding time, Metra has a major infusion of dollars with which to projected federal and local capital funding, Metra to attack a huge backlog of capital needs, and we are expects to spend nearly $2.6 billion over the next five greatly pleased to detail our plans for spending that years – an unprecedented amount. money. How does Metra plan to spend this money? Details And yet…we must, unfortunately, issue a warning are outlined in this document. Broadly speaking, with that thank you. We of course have two budgets however, we will buy new railcars to replace cars that – capital for our infrastructure needs and operating are 40 to 67 years old, with an emphasis on increased for our day-to-day expenses – and the Legislature did capacity and passenger amenities. We will buy not address the operating side. Our costs continue more remanufactured locomotives to replace some to rise, and we are still challenged by the new cost that are older than 40 years old, and we will explore of the federally mandated Positive Train Control, an buying alternative fuel locomotives. We will continue incredibly complex and expensive safety system. our car and locomotive rehab programs, including Our current operating subsidies, meanwhile, rely too upgrades to more reliable traction motors. We will heavily on sales taxes, which have not kept pace upgrade stations, with an emphasis on making them with expenses primarily due to the rise of the service ADA accessible and ensuring that every station has a economy and the switch to online retail. warming shelter. We will replace all elevators that are beyond their useful life. We will replace some of the Nevertheless, we will not raise fares in 2020, for almost 500 bridges that are more than 100 years old. the second year in a row. We can do that because It's the right thing to do to prevent failure in the future. we have sliced expenses and seriously tightened our We will renew and replace several major switching belts. But that does not allow us to do what we should locations and improve miles of signals. In short, we be doing, what we want to be doing: adding service, will begin to renew our old system. growing ridership, giving northeast Illinois more and better options to cut congestion, reduce pollution, We encourage our customers to read this document spur the economy and improve the quality of life in the and give us feedback about the proposed spending, city and suburbs. either by sending us an email or attending a public hearing. We really want to hear from you. This is Don’t get us wrong, the new capital program is your money, your agency, and we want to hear your a game-changer for Metra and will help us meet voice. We also need your help: As a state, we need to some of those goals. Of particular importance is the take a hard look at how we fund public transportation establishment of a steady, annual stream of subsidies operations and rethink our reliance on the sales tax. from the state gas tax that will increase with inflation. We still need sustained operating subsidies indexed This pay-as-you-go funding, abbreviated as “PAYGO,” to inflation so we can grow to meet the region’s will insert a level of certainty into our planning process transportation needs. that has long been missing; it has been hard to plan multiyear projects when funding is so uncertain year to year. Norman Carlson - Chairman of the Board James M. Derwinski - CEO/Executive Director PROPOSED OPERATING and CAPITAL PROGRAM and BUDGET 2 SYSTEMSYSTEM OVERVIEW OVERVIEW Metra is the largest commuter railroad in METRA BY THE NUMBERS the nation based on miles of track and one of the largest based on ridership, providing • 76.1 million passenger trips in 2018 about 281,000 rides each weekday. Metra’s primary mission is to provide safe, reliable • 692 weekday trains and efficient commuter rail service that • 273 Saturday trains enhances the economic and environmental • 181 Sunday trains health of the northeast Illinois region it serves. • 242 stations • 1,155 miles of track The Metra service area encompasses a six- county region of more than 3,700 square • 488 route miles miles. Metra operates 692 weekday trains • 168 locomotives on 11 rail lines that serve 242 stations. Metra owns and operates four rail lines • 854 diesel passenger railcars (Rock Island, Metra Electric, Milwaukee • 186 electric propelled passenger railcars District North and Milwaukee District West). • 847 bridges Three Metra lines are operated by Metra employees over freight railroad-owned track • 565 grade crossings through track rights or lease agreements • 24 rail yards (Heritage Corridor, North Central Service and SouthWest Service).