Metra Heritage Corridor OB, Chicago Union Station to Joliet | VirtualTrain

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Welcome to VirtualTransit Xtended! The first time in this channel's history to feature a Metra route of it's entirety to provide seamless viewing! This VirtualTrain Ride involve's Metra's Heritage Corridor Route from Chicago Union Station to Joliet. The bulk of this route follows the corridor of the historic Illinois & Michigan Canal and Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal (hence the name Heritage Corridor) and passes through all the industry, cities, and nature preserves within the valley. We use the same tracks that Amtrak's Lincoln Service (to St. Louis) and Texas Eagle (to San Antonio) routes.

You will notice early on that we follow closely along the CTA's Orange Line and the Stevenson Expwy (I-55). The Stevenson is along the other side of the route after crossing under all the way to Summit FYI (you'll see it the future IB video). This serves as a reminder of the long history the corridor has of transportation arteries and remains so to date. You'll also notice that we don't pick up to full speed until after Cicero Ave (IL Rte 50). In fact we don't actually get to Summit until almost halfway into the trip even though it's only just over 1/3 of the route. This stretch is notoriously congested and on several occasions we cross other railroads at-grade (on the ground). That creates a lot of conflict between many trains crossing through the corridor and contributes to slower movement. Twice while filming this the train had to wait for others to cross through. But after Cicero Ave the train is blazing through the corridor the rest of the way to Joliet.
Enjoy the (entire) trip! There's just a handful of stations along this entire route so we'll be moving almost the whole time.
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TIME STAMPS
Departure from Chicago Union Station: 1:35
Roosevelt Rd: 5:00
South Branch Chicago River: 7:43
Dan Ryan Expwy (I-90/I-94): 11:32
Halsted St: 11:57
Stevenson Expwy (I-55): 15:24
Western Ave: 17:48
Kedzie Ave: 20:17
Pulaski Rd: 23:47
Cicero Ave (IL Rte 50): 25:35
Central Ave: 26:38
Harlem Ave (IL Rte 43): 28:21
Summit Station: 29:03
1st Ave (IL Rte 171): 30:45
LaGrange Rd (U.S. Rte 12/20/45): 34:18
Tri-State Tollway (I-294): 34:22
Willow Springs Station: 35:45
Kingery Hwy/Cal-Sag Trail (IL Rte 83): 40:03
Lemont Rd/State St: 43:42
Lemont Station: 43:42
Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355): 46:30
135th St/Romeo Rd: 48:48
Romeoville Station: 49:10
9th St (IL Rte 7): 53:08
Lockport Station: 53:33
Joliet Station: 1:00:16

CITIES:
Intro: 0:00-0:24
Chicago: 0:24-25:47
Forest View: 25:47-28:20
Summit: 28:20-31:41
Bedford Park: 31:41-33:20
Justice: 33:20-34:33
Willow Springs: 34:33-39:46
Lemont: 39:46-48:19
Romeoville: 48:19-50:29
Lockport: 50:29-57:25
Joliet: 57:25-1:01:59