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Star Line

Suburban Transit Access Route
Overview
Type Suburb-to-suburb commuter rail
System Metra
Status Proposed
Locale Cook County, DuPage County, Will County
Termini O'Hare, Chicago
Joliet, Illinois
Stations 17
Technical
Line length 55 mi
Track gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm)
Route map
O'Hare Transfer
North Central Service
Des Plaines
Elk Grove Village
Arlington Heights
Rolling Meadows
I-290
IKEA
Schaumburg
Hoffman Estates
Prairie Stone
I-90
Milwaukee District/West Line
Elgin/Bartlett
Wayne
West Chicago
Union Pacific/West Line
Warrenville
I-88
Eola
BNSF Railway Line
Naperville
Plainfield
Crest Hill
Joliet Union Station

The Suburban Transit Access Route (or STAR Line) is a proposed railway project in northwest and outer suburban Chicago, Illinois, United States. On January 30, 2003, Metra announced plans to build a new service line that would introduce a new fleet of Diesel multiple unit trains (DMUs) to connect nearly 100 communities in the region and form Metra's only suburb-to-suburb service. Currently all of Metra's services are oriented on suburb-to-city travel.

The route of the STAR line is planned to travel along the EJ&E right of way and in the median of the Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90). The tollway median was a proposed extension of the CTA Blue Line westward to Schaumburg, but construction plans of the Suburban Transit Access Route caused the former to be scrapped. Very high ridership was expected due to its unique travel theme: around 80000 passengers a day. The line was to be 55 miles in length.

The preliminary cost estimate for the STAR Line was $1.1 billion. The project was authorized under the most recent federal transportation funding bill, SAFETEA-LU, in 2005. The project underwent Alternatives Analysis as the next step in the process to secure federal funding for the project.

The 55-mile Metra route would have been the first suburb-to-suburb train line in the Chicago area. The line would have started at O'Hare International Airport, run west along Interstate 90 towards Hoffman Estates, then south along the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway towards Joliet. The line would have connected almost 100 communities in Will, DuPage, and Cook County. The route would have used a new fleet of European-style trains running at 79 mph, providing service at 15-minute intervals during peak periods.


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Wikipedia

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