The North Central Service (NCS) is a commuter rail line provided and operated by Metra in Chicago, Illinois, and its surrounding suburbs. While Metra does not specifically refer to any of its lines by a particular color, the timetable accents for the North Central Service line are printed in light "Soo Purple".
Its southern terminus is Union Station in downtown Chicago. The line traverses Chicago's western neighborhoods and its northwestern and far northern suburbs to Antioch, Illinois. Between Western Avenue and River Grove stations, the North Central Service shares the right of way with Metra's Milwaukee District/West Line, but does not stop at any of the other stations used by the MD-W. About a mile west of the River Grove station this route turns northward at a junction known as tower B-12. The remainder of the route operates on tracks owned and dispatched by the Canadian National Railway ("CN"). A single daily inbound train, #120, uses a combination of the North Central Service's trackage and the Milwaukee District North line's trackage by using a crossing with that line in Grayslake.
The CN assumed ownership of this route on September 7, 2001 when the CN absorbed the Wisconsin Central Railroad ("WC"). The WC operated this route after it was purchased from the Soo Line Railroad in April 1987. Metra provides its own crews for this service and operates under a trackage rights agreement with the CN.
Service began August 19, 1996. As of 2006, this is the only new line in the Metra system since its formation. Prior to the start of NCS, the last passenger service on this route ended in 1965, when the Soo Line discontinued the overnight Chicago-Duluth Laker.
Read more about North Central Service: Recent History
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