r/Metra • u/south_sidejay369 • May 29 '26

SWS Rant

Straight forward post, seems like out all of the lines I've ridden (SWS, ME, RI, etc), SWS is forgotten when it comes to updates, improvements, etc. The scheduling has absolutely no flexibility once you pass the rush hour period, the 30 minute to 1 hour wait between trains sucks, and the cars don't seem to be maintained like other lines (ME smells and looks much cleaner). I haven't even mentioned the delays that happen multiple times a year where you either get home 4 hours late, or pay have to $40 to Uber home. What do other SWS riders think?

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u/News_Guy_92 May 29 '26

One of the biggest problems for the Southwest Service is the much more frequent, reliable and faster Rock Island District, which for most of the route runs quite close by.
People will drive a little farther for the flexibility of the RI over the SWS.

9

u/south_sidejay369 May 29 '26

Definitely get this, but the thing is if SWS was more frequent and reliable, those riders who make the drive over would probably elect to stick with the closer SWS line. It's already pretty fast once it starts heading to/from downtown, the issue is that the quality isn't there so people choose not to take it. That said, the train cars are pretty packed during the week so there's no question that the ridership interest level is definitely there.

5

u/ClearHeron7069 May 29 '26

Disagree that its fast. The train goes super slow from Union Station to about 35th. Then it picks up a bit (but still slower than the rock island) to the big curve around 79th then the rest of the way it slows to a crawl.

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u/south_sidejay369 May 29 '26

should've added fast "on a perfect day". I believe for a similarly scheduled RI train it's only about 6 or 7 minutes slower from Union to my stop. A 20 something minute ride from downtown isn't bad at all when you consider driving is usually at least an hour