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Getting Around: Chicago Metra

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Metra Essentials

Metra is regional rail for longer distances throughout greater Chicago.

Buy and activate ticket with Ventra app.

Set it up ahead of time.

Tell the conductor your stop.
Station attendants can help you find your train.

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Pros

Fast, clean, and relatively frequent.
Station employees are friendly and helpful.

❌

Cons

Ventra app has long setup.
Millennium Station is difficult to find.
May skip your stop.

Traveled April 2025

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About

Metra is Chicago’s regional rail. As a visitor, you’re less likely to ride this one; it takes you to the further reaches of Chicago.

It’s akin to the LIRR, Metro North, or NJT in New York, or (generously) Metrolink in Los Angeles.

This was my third time to Chicago, so I thought why not, let’s try it! Also, some rail-loving friends of mine wanted pictures of the catenary (overhead electrical wires) for Metra Electric.

View down a Chicago Metra train station. Two tracks trailing into the distance, platforms and platform buildings on either side. Catenary wires overhead, train pulling away on the right track. One person walking away on right platform.

I gave myself the excuse of checking out Hyde Park, and set out to ride.

Payment

I always try the highest-tech, most modern option first. That’s the Ventra app.

The Ventra app is… involved.

I tried to buy a ticket.

It prompted me to log in.

I had to make an account…

Ventra app account creation screen asking for username and password.

It needed my name and phone number…

Ventra app, Create Account screen, asking for name and phone number.

My street address…

Ventra App, Create Account screen, asking for street address.

An access code (what?!) and a security question…

Ventra app, Create Account screen, asking for an Access Code and Security Question.

Do I want to enable Face ID?

Ventra App asking the user to enable Face ID

OK, it’s let me in. I knew my origin and destination.

Ventra App ticket selection screen, with Metra Electric route from Millennium Station to Hyde Park selected. Several options including one-way and day pass.

I picked a day pass, valid between two stations.

Ventra app order summary screen, day pass on Metra Electric between Zone 1 and Zone 2, Day pass, $7.50, asking to select payment method.

Thankfully it accepted Apple Pay. I may have screamed if I had to enter a credit card number at this point.

Long story short, give yourself time to set up an account before your travel.

Activate your ticket as you board, and show it to the conductor during your ride. They’ll come through after the train starts moving.

Finding It

The Millennium Station for Metra was difficult to find. It’s a big station, but it’s concealed entirely underground. Walking around above ground, you wouldn’t know it was there.

Large car intersection in Chicago, two posts with a chain in foreground, cars waited in middle, trees and a building in background.

Station?

View across a street at a corner in Chicago. Skyscrapers in background, a few cars, crosswalk at right.

Station? Maybe? Please?

Map of Chicago at Millennium Station. Large red box labeled “STATION” drawn around the station complex perimiter. Green arrow pointing to “The one (?) above ground entrance”. Blue arrow pointing to “secret underground entrance.”

The station and its tendrils fill most of the big red box. I found only two ways in, at the green and blue arrows.

After circling the block twice, I found an entrance on the far opposite corner.

Staircase leading underground with curved roof, labeled “Metra Millennium Station.”

The only way in I could find.

It went down a long set of corridors.

The signage was OK but could be better.

Underground corridor. Sign labeled “Pedway” leading to destinations including Metra Electric. Wet Floor pylon in foreground. Doors in back.

Underground corridor. Round pillar directing left for Metra Electric and straight ahead for South Shore.

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Enter the Millennium station at the southwest corner of N Michigan and E Randolph

In the station, a screen showed departure information for several trains. They were all listed by final destination. I just needed to go a few stops, I didn’t care which line. No idea which to take.

Thankfully, some friendly Metra employees helped me out.

I was flustered enough that I neglected to take pictures. Here is a picture of an aggressive goose that I met the next day.

Goose, facing camera, one leg raised as if to walk forward. Standing on concrete, metal fence behind, river and opposite shore blurred in background.

Riding

The ride out was uneventful.

I had a mind-blowing cookie in Hyde Park at Struggle Beard.

On my way back, there was an announcement that the train would be skipping a few stops because nobody was getting off. I was horrified. How did they know nobody was getting off?

Turns out, some stops are “flag stops.” The train only stops if it needs to. There’s no button to request a stop, you need to personally find and tell the conductor.

Brown cookie with brown and white chips and marshmallows on a wax paper sleeve, on a brown table with a pink beverage in a clear cup in the background.

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At a Flag Stop, if nobody is getting off or on, the train will pass by without stopping.

Flag stops are listed on the schedule.

To be safe, tell the conductor where you are going before you approach your stop. They’ll probably be standing around near an exit.

View inside the lower level of a Metra Elecrtic car. Two people with yellow work hats seated in background.

That’s a row of seats at top right. Is that a ladder in the middle? A luggage rack?

Other than the horror of flag stops, the ride was fast, efficient, and pleasant.

The train I rode was the same/similar model as a CalTrain I rode in the bay area, with the weird split claustrophobic second level that feels like a massive death trap.

Did I ride on the death trap level?

Blurry close-up picture of Metra Electric train interior. Hand sitting on backpack in foreground.

Of course I did!

I also messed up my camera’s focus.

These were very dramatic, I promise.

Interior view of Metra Electric upper level. Various metal structures, both clear and blurry. Green windows in background.

The windows were all green, and I mean bright green. I’m guessing it’s some sort of UV protection.

Green-tinted view of train tracks and overhead wires.

Green tinted view of train tracks and overhead wires. Small building at left. Overpass at far left.

I took a lot of green pictures.

Green-tinted view of train tracks, overhead wires, and a pedestrian overpass.

Green-tinted view of overhead wires, bridge at right, unknown single-story building at center, possibly a train station platform.

Secret Entrance

Back downtown, on my way out, I found a secret entrance.

Downtown Chicago has a whole second level underground.

Underground parking cavern in Chicago. Path in foreground, crosswalk at right, cars in distance, lights overhead, column on left.

Worn metal doorway with sign overhead reading “Metra SOUTH WATER ST. STATION”

On the lower level, there’s a convenient, sensible entrance to the station. There’s no wayfinding to it, it’s buried in a cavernous parking level, but location-wise it’s exactly where you’d expect it.

To get to that level, there’s a completely unlabeled staircase. I guess you just have to know.

Underground level in Chicago with stairway leading upward, dramatically lit with a blue tint.

Staircase leading underground in Chicago. Bus at left, sidewalk at right, skyscrapers in background.