page_title: Metra Electric District
hierarchical_section_title: Metra Electric District
caption_attribution_description: A Metra EMU at Ivanhoe Station in Riverdale, IL.
context_page_description: The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station, in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs. As of 2018, it is the fifth busiest of Metra's 11 lines, after the BNSF, UP-NW, UP-N, and UP-W with nearly 7.7 million annual riders. While Metra does not explicitly refer to any of its lines by color, the timetable accents for the Metra Electric District are printed in bright "Panama orange" to reflect the line's origins with the Illinois Central Railroad and its Panama Limited passenger train. Apart from the spots where its tracks run parallel to other main lines, it is the only Metra line running entirely on dedicated passenger tracks, with no freight trains operating anywhere on the actual route itself. The line is the only one in the Metra system with more than one station in Downtown Chicago, and also has the highest number of stations than any other Metra line.
  It is the only Metra line powered by overhead catenary, and the only one with three branches. Trains operate on 1500 volts direct current, and all stations have high-level platforms.
context_section_description: The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Station), in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs. As of 2018, it is the fifth busiest of Metra's 11 lines, after the BNSF, UP-NW, UP-N, and UP-W  with nearly 7.7 million annual riders. While Metra does not explicitly refer to any of its lines by color, the timetable accents for the Metra Electric District are printed in bright "Panama orange" to reflect the line's origins with the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) and its Panama Limited passenger train. Apart from the spots where its tracks run parallel to other main lines, it is the only Metra line running entirely on dedicated passenger tracks, with no freight trains operating anywhere on the actual route itself (only exceptions perhaps being occasional work or repair trains). The line is the only one in the Metra system with more than one station in Downtown Chicago, and also has the highest number of stations (49) than any other Metra line.
  It is the only Metra line powered by overhead catenary, and the only one with three branches. Trains operate on 1500 volts direct current, and all stations have high-level platforms. Its main line north of Kensington is shared by NICTD's South Shore Line, an electric interurban line through  northern Indiana to South Bend. Per a longstanding non-compete agreement, South Shore trains stopping at stations shared with the Electric District only stop to pick up passengers eastbound and discharge them westbound.
  It is the only Metra line with significant off-peak and Saturday service. In total, 76 trains depart Millennium Station according to the Monday-Friday public timetable. Of these, 40 run on the main line with 26 reaching University Park, 5 terminating at Flossmoor, and 4 terminating at Harvey. The stretch of the line from Millennium Station to 55th-56th-57th Street is the most heavily traveled section on the entire Metra system. Suburban operations along the line are the most frequent in the entire Metra system. The Metra Electric District also has the best on-time performance of all Metra lines, averaging only one late train a month in 2014.
caption: Train arriving at Ivanhoe station in Riverdale, Illinois
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