'Holiday Train' Coming To Metra's Rock Island Line

TINLEY PARK, IL — Metra will be bringing holiday magic to six rail lines—including the Rock Island—on four Saturdays this November and December with special holiday train rides on decorated trains filled with holiday characters. Tickets for the trains will go on sale at noon on Nov. 11.

Holiday train trips will be offered on the Metra Electric, BNSF, Milwaukee District North, Rock Island, Union Pacific Northwest, and Union Pacific North lines. Families will enjoy making memories and creating a new holiday tradition on trains specially decorated for the holidays.

On the Metra Electric Line, the experience will also include a visit to a North Pole winter wonderland at Millennium Station, where families can enjoy treats, holiday music, face painting, games, and other fun activities. Other downtown stations will be decorated to spread holiday cheer to participants as well as regular riders, and the holiday trains will also be used in regular service during December.

“We hope our Holiday Trains help spread happiness and joy during the sometimes stressful holiday season,” said Metra CEO/Executive Director Jim Derwinski. “These trains are a small token of our appreciation for our riders. We hope they make Metra part of their holiday tradition.”

To spread even more holiday cheer, Metra is donating tickets so children from Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago can ride holiday trains. Garrett Popcorn Shops is a top-tier sponsor of the Holiday Trains, and Sugar Bliss is a sponsor.

Holiday trains are planned on the Metra lines listed below on the following dates:

• Nov. 30: Metra Electric Line
• Dec. 7: BNSF Line
• Dec. 14: Rock Island, Milwaukee District North, and Union Pacific Northwest lines
• Dec. 21: Metra Electric (two trains, one in the morning and one in the evening) and Union Pacific North lines.

For all trains, participants can ride the holiday trains back to their starting point or stay downtown and use their holiday train ticket to return on any scheduled train that day.

Tickets for Metra’s holiday trains will go on sale at noon on Nov. 11 at shop.metra.com and are expected to sell out. Tickets cost $5 each and must be purchased in advance. More details, including the schedules for each train, can be found at metra.com/HolidayTrains.