Suburban Transit Access Route

The Suburban Transit Access Route (or STAR Line) is a proposed railway project in northwest and outer suburban Chicago, Illinois, USA. On January 30, 2003, Metra announced plans to build a new service line that would introduce a new fleet of Diesel multiple unit trains (DMUs) to connect nearly 100 communities in the region and form Metra's only suburb-to-suburb service. Currently all of Metra's services are oriented on suburb-to-city travel.
The route of the STAR line is planned to travel along the EJ&E right of way and in the median of the Northwest Tollway (Interstate 90). The tollway median was a proposed extension of the CTA Blue Line westward to Schaumburg. But these plans cancelled it. Very high ridership is expected due to its unique travel theme: around 80000 passengers a day. The line will be 55 miles in length.
The preliminary cost estimate for the STAR Line was $1.1 billion. The project was authorized under the most recent federal transportation...