Commuter and intercity rail station in Homewood, Illinois
Homewood, IL
Homewood station in March 2017. The former Illinois Central Railroad station is on the left, the Metra platform in the center and the Amtrak platform on the right.
Served by the Metra Electric District, Homewood is 23.5 miles (37.8 km) from that line's northern terminus at Millennium Station.[4] It is six stops away from the line's southern terminus at University Park. In Metra's zone-based fare system, Homewood is located in zone 3. As of 2018[update], Homewood is the 32nd busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 1,171 weekday boardings.[3] It is also 25 miles (40 km) from Union Station, the northern terminus of the three Amtrak services which stop here.
History
In 1851, the Illinois Central Railroad began construction of their new rail line which branched south of Chicago to what is now the Village of Homewood. The first passenger train to run on this line ran from Chicago to Kankakee, IL on August 5, 1853, and stopped in present day Homewood. Also in 1853, the Illinois Central built a one-and-a-half story depot to serve to area. When the depot was built, the nearest town to the new depot was the large village of Thornton, IL, about three miles to the east of the depot, and the depot was named the "Illinois Central Thornton Depot" for sixteen years. In 1869, the depot was officially renamed to the Homewood Station.
Three years after the station opened, commuter services began. Throughout the years, the station also served such intercity trains as the City of New Orleans, Creole, and Green Diamond. In 1971, Amtrak assumed control of the Illinois Central's passenger operations and continued to stop at Homewood. Metra purchased the commuter services in 1987. In 2003 the Homewood Rail Heritage Committee approved the installation of a train watching platform for railfans similar to that of the Rochelle Railroad Park in Rochelle, Illinois. As with many suburban Metra stations, bus connections are provided by Pace Transit Systems.
On the Metra Electric, it is a regular stop on the main line. On Amtrak, it is served by the regional Illini and Saluki and the long-distance City of New Orleans.
2020s renovation
The station is undergoing renovations. The renovations will improve the facilitates and bring the station complex into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Prior to the renovation, among the accessibility issues was a lack of an accessible path to the platforms from the west-side of the tracks (where Amtrak's station building is located).[5][6]
The first part of the project is a $15 million renovation by Amtrak of its facilities at the station. This project is utilizing federal funds. The Amtrak station closed in August 2020 for the renovations.[5] Much of the architectural features of the Amtrak portion of the station will be retained, as the facility is on the Illinois Register of Historical Places. It will be expanded with a new structure.[5] Amtrak will construct demolish the current boarding platform and build a new covered island platform to serve the two tracks that its trains utilize at the station.[5][6]
After Amtrak completes its renovation of its facilities, Metra will, separately, begin a $14 million renovation of their facilities at the station. Metra's plans are to replace their station structure at Harwood Avenue and Ridge Road with a new structure, and to renovate the track-access tunnel. The project will also see the adjacent Pace bus terminal reconfigured It will be funded, through a combined $9 million funds from the Federal Transit Administration and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, with a further $4 million coming from Metra, $585,000 coming from Homewood, and $300,000 coming from Cook County. Metra's renovation of their facilities at the Homewood station was announced in 2020, and is part of a five-year capital investment plan involving the renovation of nine stations (including Homewood) on the Metra Electric District.[5][7]
