Metra UP North Line

Dirtiest train I have been on in a long time. Mop slop all over the seats on the 5:35 pm train. How do we let them treat the passengers this way!!! Disgusting!!!

Friendly conductors, nice folks on board and a decent view from the City. Can’t complain.

A few of the reviews are strange, just because I’ve never had any overly terrible experiences riding this line. It’s the norm once in a rare while for a train to be terribly late, and other than one really bad experience I had waiting for a train a couple years ago to go to Kenosha (over 30 mins. late, and had to switch platforms), haven’t had any probs riding this line otherwise. Only thing is that certain stations on this line are aging and could use improvement (especially Clybourn), though at least Ravenswood is finally getting an overdue renovation. And there are stations in worser shape (i.e. Metra Electric’s 63^rd-​111^th St. stops, and the stops on the Blue Island ME branch).
Nice too that there is a late afternoon train from Waukegan to Chicago that makes limited stops on both Saturday and Sunday on the schedule. As once when I was coming back from Waukegan, that train saved my butt and allowed me to meet up with a friend successfully, without being late (barely).

This is not a manned stop.
Elevated platform… lots of stairs.
Make sure you know which train you need since there are a number of different lines that come through.
Bike parking is on the northern side near the vehicle parking.
7 – 11 across the street (east) has an atm to pay for your ticket.

Ive been riding the metra for over a year, and took my last regular ride last week, as I got a new, closer job. Here are the reasons I’ll miss my metra.
–Quiet. Sure, you’ll get occasional loud folks, but for the most part, the commuters use subdued voices and are polite.
–Quick. I could get to Evanston in half an hour, and watched traffic crawling along.
–Friendly conductors. They know you, you know them. You smile, you chat, they tell you to have a good day.
–The really friendly tall black man in the green jacket who stands outside the metra market. Seriously, he brightened my day so much. Even when he gave me crap about wearing my packer jacket. (sorry, your bears still suck). Was his sole job to greet people? He’s fantastic at it.
–Reliable transportation. Sure, rail construction and occasional other mishaps cause for delays, but we are always well informed. You can even get email alerts of your line’s notifications. Thumbs up.
–Cheap. I mean, I don’t own a car, so I don’t have to pay insurance, gas or parking for it. In my book, I’ll pay $ 90 a month to ride and consider it a good deal.
–I get to read. I’ll miss that.

Have had good experiences on this line.
Just wish the good citizens of Wisconsin allowed this line to continue to Milwaukee…
too bad that scheduling and passenger flow makes this a «bumble train» that makes all station stops. It seems to take for-(h)-ever to get to North Chicago/​Lake Bluff and thereabouts.
Good commuter rail is something that people don’t seem to appreciate until it’s gone. Metra is much better than other cities’ options. I hope service can increase. It’s relatively cheap. it’s easy. and snafus are less likely than they are while driving.
it should be a no brainer! go metra!

My 1^st Metra ride was on this line. It was worth waking up at 3:30 in the morning for. The only problem I had on the trip to Waukegan to get to Gurnee Mills, was several hood folks who boarded the train, going to the now-​hoodified North Chicago to see some relatives. Before the train was scheduled to pull off, one, a woman who looked to be in her late 40s constantly told a young male in his late teens, her son or nephew probably, to shut the fuck up, whenever he made an inquiry about something. I was thinking, hey, this is Metra. Take that mess on the Red or Green Line.
It was a neat little ride to Waukegan, and a quiet one too, albeit the presence of the hot-​headed woman. Cool seeing the nearby Purple Line stations as the train traveled through Evanston. Neat to see the Chicago Botanical Gardens logo on the Glencoe stop (sigh, I can’t wait to go here later this year). Nice to pass Ravinia Park, the venue where many classical music concerts are held (I’m going here this summer too). Nice to see the Great Lakes naval base. This was just so cool!
The return trip was nice, although I sat on the platform at Waukegan and made a couple lunchmeat sandwiches and read a book for over 1.5 hours waiting for the next train in to Ogilvie, because I came too early from the Mills and missed the last one. What I found absolutely hilarious on the return trip was the sound the wheels of the train made as it was approaching Ogilvie. If you’ve ever seen a teacher drag a piece of chalk along a chalkboard in a movie and heard the sound of it, then you’ll have an aural vision of what that sounded like, only three times worse. People in the same car as I constantly said «Damn,» but I just listened to it and thought, «Whoa.»
Overall, five stars. Nothing major, nothing out of the ordinary. Just a very nice Metra line, and it became my very first Metra line on my very first day of Metra riding.

So sometimes I take this home instead of riding the El. It’s significantly faster and it’s a much nicer ride. I usually buy a 10 punch pass. My stop: Ravenswood to Ogilvy. I like it for the ride home, not so much for the ride to work. By the time it get’s to Ravenswood it’s pretty crowded. No more seats so I end up standing. I give it a 4 stars instead of a 5 because the few times I have taken it in the morning the train has been late. When it’s warm out I don’t mind, but when it’s cold or raining I am cursing myself for taking the train and not taking the El. So 5 stars for the ride home, 3 stars for the ride to downtown in the morning rush hour. Equals 4 stars.

«Denise P.», who gave the UP-​N line one star in her review, probably hasn’t ridden the train more than once. Actually, UP-​N (Metra’s third-​busiest line) provides great commuter service and off-​peak service to Chicago’s north side and the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. Competing services (the CTA Brown line and Purple line) certainly have their place, but can hardly compare against scheduled commuter rail service. If you’re in Evanston, Rogers Park, or Ravenswood, and within 10 – 15 minutes walking distance of a UP-​N station, you’ll get downtown quicker via Metra. Have a ten-​ride pass? It’s cheaper to ride in on the UP-​N from Ravenswood to Ogilvie than it is to take the Brown line.
I consider that to be a pretty good reason to put up with a late train once in a while.