The railroad between Chicago and Aurora was constructed in 1864 by the
Chicago and Aurora Railroad, which evolved into the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The CB&Q operated the commuter service until the railroad merged into the
Burlington Northern Railroad in 1970. Burlington Northern merged with the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1995 to form the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, which would later rename itself to BNSF Railway. When the
Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) began subsidizing Chicago's commuter rail operations in 1974, Burlington Northern continued to operate its line under contract to the RTA. This arrangement continued when the RTA organized its commuter rail lines under the RTA Commuter Rail Division in 1983, later rebranded as Metra in 1985. Today, the triple-track line is one of the busiest rail corridors in the United States. In addition to the 97 Metra trains that currently use the line, BNSF freight trains frequent the line at all hours.
Amtrak's
Southwest Chief,
California Zephyr, and
Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg use the line as well, making an intermediate stop at . The
Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg services also stop at .
Rail fans have coined the line as the "BNSF Racetrack". The station at South Austin Boulevard and West 29th Street in
Cicero was closed on April 1, 2007, due to low ridership and its dilapidation. In the months before its closure, it was used by about 50 passengers a day.
Kendall County extension There have been proposals to extend service west into
Kendall County, which as of 2020 is outside the RTA's service area. Potential new stations would be built in
Montgomery,
Oswego,
Yorkville,
Plano, and
Sandwich, Illinois. The Plano station would be located over 1 mile west of the
CB&Q Depot currently used by
Amtrak's
Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg trains. ==Ridership==