The Heritage Corridor is a Metra commuter rail line in Chicago, Illinois, and its southwestern suburbs, terminating in Joliet. While Metra does not refer to its lines by colors, the Heritage Corridor appears on Metra timetables as "Alton Maroon," after the Alton Railroad, which ran trains on this route. The name Heritage Corridor refers to the Illinois and Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor. Established in 1984, it runs parallel to the line. Unlike other Metra lines, the Heritage Corridor runs during weekday rush hours only in the peak direction–to Chicago in the morning and Joilet in the afternoon. The Heritage Corridor Line takes less than 1 hour to reach Joliet, significantly faster than the Rock Island District Line which also serves Joliet. A fourth outbound train was added on March 14, 2016. Now seven trains run on the Heritage Corridor, three of them inbound, four outbound. All trains run through to Joliet.
Route
The line runs from Union Station in downtown Chicago through southwestern suburbs to Joliet. In March 2016, the public timetable shows four Chicago to Joliet trains each weekday. An additional train runs inbound during the afternoon rush hour but as an empty equipment move or deadhead. Amtrak's Texas Eagle and Lincoln Service use these tracks from Union Station to Joliet. The Texas Eagle only stops at Chicago and Joliet, while the Lincoln Service also stops at Summit. The Joliet Transportation Center replaced Joliet Union Station on April 11, 2018. On May 16, 2017, Metra announced that the new station for Romeoville had officially broken ground near the intersection of 135th St and New Avenue. The cost of the new station is estimated to be around $4.9 million. The station was opened to the public on February 5, 2018. There are proposals to add more intermediate stations on the line at Bridgeport, Brighton Park, and Justice, as well as an extension to Braidwood, Illinois with stations at Elwood and Wilmington.
Stations
Ridership
Since 2014 annual ridership has remained steady at roughly 730,000.
