Metra marks centennial of electrified line

Chicago-area commuter railroad Metra marked the 100th anniversary of the electrification of the line now known as the Metra Electric Line with a public ceremony on July 23.

The event also recognized recent reforms to Chicago-area public transportation, including the creation of a new governing authority, the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) in December 2025 and increased transit funding.

“The Metra Electric Line has provided zero-emissions transportation for a hundred years thanks to the visionary collective decisions made a century earlier to connect downtown with the South Side and the south suburbs,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. “As we celebrate this historic moment, we are about to embark on another transformational chapter for public transit in the Chicago region with reforms and investments of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) Act that will continue to improve the transit rider experience on the Metra Electric and across the six-county transit network.”

The tracks for the line were laid by Illinois Central Railroad in 1850. To reduce crowding and pollution, the city of Chicago required ICR to electrify the line. The electrification and grade separation of the line cost about $52 million — equivalent to about $1 billion today; the first electric trains ran on July 21, 1926. Metra acquired the line from the Illinois Central in 1987.