Harvard station (Metra)


Harvard station is a Metra commuter rail station in Harvard, Illinois. It is the terminus of the Union Pacific/Northwest Line. It was the only Metra station located in the M zone, until the M fare zone was retired by Metra in 2018. Harvard is by far the farthest Metra station from Chicago at with the next furthest stop Antioch which is on North Central Service being over 10 miles less than that at. The station contains a parking lot operated by the City of Harvard. A coach yard is adjacent to the station and is used to store trains during weekends and overnight hours. Harvard is located in fare zone J. Trains that travel to Chicago passed through an entire fare zone to reach Woodstock. However, no stations were located in zone L, which goes through Hartland, a station that closed in 1984. It is the westernmost station of the Metra system, as well as the farthest stop from any other stops on its route. The next most westerly stop is Elburn on the Union Pacific/West Line and the next largest gap between two stations on the Metra system is between Lake Forest and Libertyville on the Milwaukee District/North Line. Harvard is the last station to use two tracks, as further beyond this station, the UP line is single tracked until reaching Janesville, Wisconsin.
Being Chicago's most northwesterly commuter rail station, the Harvard station attracts commuters from the Rockford and Belvidere region of northern Illinois as well as South-Central Wisconsin. As of 2018, Harvard is the 151st busiest of the 236 non-downtown stations in the Metra system, with an average of 265 weekday boardings.

Bus connections

Pace