The line was historically owned and operated by the Chicago & North Western Railway (C&NW), until it merged with UP in 1995. While Metra does not refer to any of its lines by colors, the timetable accents for the UP-NW are bright "Viking Yellow," honoring the C&NW's Vikingpassenger train.
Overall, this is Metra's longest route and one of three routes with branches (the others being the Rock Island District and Metra Electric District). The line is Metra's second-busiest with an average of 38,600 boardings on a weekday. It is second only to the BNSF Line.
Service
As of February 16, 2024, Metra operates 78 trains (39 in each direction) on the line on weekdays. Of these, 14 inbound trains originate from Harvard, three from McHenry, 13 from Crystal Lake, four from Barrington, one from Palatine, and four from Des Plaines. Five outbound trains terminate at Des Plaines, three at Palatine, three at Barrington, 12 at Crystal Lake, three at McHenry, and 13 at Harvard.
Metra operates 34 trains (17 in each direction) on the line on Saturdays. Of these, 10 inbound trains originate from Harvard, five from Crystal Lake, one from Barrington, and one from Arlington Heights. Two outbound trains terminate at Barrington, five at Crystal Lake, and 10 at Harvard.
Metra operates 21 trains (10 inbound, 11 outbound) on the line on Sundays. Of these, seven inbound trains originate from Harvard, two from Crystal Lake, and one from Arlington Heights. Three outbound trains terminate at Crystal Lake and eight terminate at Harvard.
There is no service at Gladstone Park station or on the McHenry branch on weekends or holidays. All other stations are open daily.
The main line is triple-tracked from Clybourn to just southeast of Barrington, with a bidirectional express track, and double tracked from Barrington to Harvard. The McHenry branch is single-tracked. Historically, double track was maintained from Harvard to Baraboo, Wisconsin. A now-gone portion of the Union Pacific Northwest Line diverged at Harvard and passed through Beloit, Wisconsin, and reconnected to the main line at Evansville junction to allow a separate passenger and freight line. Around the time the Beloit line was abandoned, the railroad single-tracked the line from Harvard to Janesville.
All stations along the triple-tracked portion of the line have a side platform serving the inbound track and an island platform serving the express and outbound tracks, the only exception being Irving Park, which only has two side platforms and does not serve trains running through the express track.
Metra has included the possibility of extending the McHenry branch to Johnsburg in their Cost Benefit Analysis report. If this were to happen, the branch would open an infill station in Prairie Grove. Additionally, an infill station would open in Ridgefield between Crystal Lake and Woodstock along the line to Harvard.
Beginning in 2023, the Union Pacific Railroad announced that commuter operations on all three of the Union Pacific lines would be transferred to Metra; the Union Pacific would continue to own and maintain the right-of-way. The transfer was initially expected to occur by Q1 2024; however, it was delayed by a year to May 16, 2025.
Since 2023, Metra has been working on a project to build a new layover rail yard in Woodstock. The new yard will consolidate the operations from the Barrington and Crystal Lake yards. It will have seven storage tracks that will have the capacity of holding 14 train sets along with two equipment storage tracks. The new yard will allow for the expansion of service on the UP-NW. Construction is expected to begin in 2029 with 2031 as a projected completion date, pending funding availability.
Ridership
Between 2014 and 2019, annual ridership declined from 11,609,358 to 10,384,356, an overall decline of 10.6%. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ridership dropped to 2,602,403 passengers in 2020. The line's 5,721,102 riders in 2025 made it the second busiest Metra line
Union Pacific Northwest Line
