The North Central Service [NCS] opened in 1996 making it the first new commuter rail line in the region in 70 years. The line extends 53 miles north from Chicago's Union Station to Antioch and serves ten communities in parts of Cook and Lake counties, plus a transfer station at remote parking lot F at O'Hare International Airport. Through 2005, the NCS has consisted of five weekday inbound and five outbound trains and has served approximately 4,500 passenger trips daily.

The NCS now offers 20 trains each weekday, providing a better spread of service options throughout the day and early evening to help meet the increased demands in the marketplace. The expansion of service also provides a greater opportunity for Metra to capture more O'Hare Airport trips and to build upon the growing suburb-to-suburb market by partnering with select business centers to implement connecting shuttle services.

In addition to increased service, access points on the NCS have also been expanded with four new stations at Grayslake, Schiller Park, Franklin Park and Rosemont, and a fifth station, Grand/Cicero, scheduled to open later in 2006. Infrastructure improvements include the addition of a second track, crossovers, signals and other track configurations.

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