Metra railcar rehabilitation is now complete for 302 commuter railcars, with the in-house programme saving more than 100 million USD compared with outsourcing the work to external contractors.

Metra Railcar Rehabilitation Reaches 302 Cars
Metra mechanical department. Photo: Metra

Metra railcar rehabilitation at 49th Street

Around 150 employees carry out the rebuilding process at the agency’s 49th Street maintenance facility in Chicago. Workers dismantle each ageing vehicle down to its structural frame, then reconstruct it with updated equipment and improved passenger facilities.

Each railcar takes approximately four weeks to refurbish, at a ⁠cost of about 850,000 USD per vehicle. This is considerably less than either buying a replacement vehicle or awarding the rehabilitation work to an external contractor.

The latest programme covered 302 Nippon Sharyo railcars delivered between 2002 and 2008. It followed a previous refurbishment phase completed between 2010 and 2017. That earlier work involved 176 Amerail-built vehicles originally manufactured by Morrison Knudson and delivered between 1995 and 1998.

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Passenger and safety system upgrades

Passenger improvements introduced during the overhaul include power outlets, LED information screens, modernised toilets and accessible wheelchair lifts. Metra also installs new seating, composite floors and enhanced air-conditioning equipment.

The overhaul also covers upgraded battery chargers for emergency lighting, onboard camera equipment and the hardware required to support the ⁠federally mandated Positive Train Control (PTC) safety system. The exterior doors are fitted with sensitive edges that cause them to retract automatically after making contact with an object or person.

Metra expects the rebuilt railcars to continue operating for another 12 to 15 years.

Jim Derwinski, Metra’s Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, said:

“Metra is extremely proud of its rehab programs and the dedicated workers who are its heart and soul. We are not only saving regional taxpayers and our riders money, but we are turning out quality rehabs that ensure our riders will travel in safety and comfort for many years to come.”

Metra train with Nippon Sharyo bi-level railcars at Wheaton station
Archive photo of a Metra UP-West train with Nippon Sharyo bi-level railcars at Wheaton station. Photo: AlphaBeta135 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Wider in-house refurbishment programmes

Metra also maintains in-house refurbishment programmes for locomotives and electric multiple units (EMUs). More recently, the agency began ⁠repainting locomotives belonging to Trinity Railway Express in the Dallas–Fort Worth region and performing minor repairs on them. Metra aims to expand these maintenance services to other commuter and passenger rail operators in the future.

Metra’s completed 302-car overhaul sits within a broader rolling stock programme in the agency’s ⁠approved 2026 capital plan. The 515.3 million USD programme allocates 268.2 million USD to rolling stock. Metra’s ⁠final 2026 budget also sets aside 119.5 million USD for a second phase of its in-house rehabilitation programme covering Nippon Sharyo Highliner 2 electric multiple units used on the Metra Electric Line since 2012. Those EMUs are a separate fleet from the 302 cars in the completed project, extending the in-house rehabilitation model to another group of vehicles.

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