Street Interviews: Should DeKalb have a Metra Train Station?

By Lucy Atkinson, Opinion Editor|February 10, 2023

DeKALB –With NIU students arriving on campus from all over the state and globe, the idea of a Metra Train station located closer to NIU is strongly appealing. From increased traveling accessibility to weekend trips into the Windy City, support for the station seems widespread. Even students living on campus are enthusiastic for the voyaging possibilities a Metra Train Station would offer. All aboard!

Alex Woltman

How do you get to school?
Answer : “I walk… yeah, I live in New Hall.”

Do you ever go into Chicago? How?

Answer : “Usually only on, like, breaks… if I’m with my family, we drive, but if I’m with my friends, we take the train.”

Would you support a Metra train running to NIU?

Answer : “Yeah, it’d be very helpful. Just because I know a lot of, like, Metra trains stations, well there’s a lot. I mean, obviously, they go to a lot of different places. And it’s a lot quicker than just driving most of the time, and it’s, like, easier for people who don’t have access to a car on campus.”

Maria Elizabeth Bonto

How do you get to school?
Answer : “I just walk… I do (live on campus).”

Do you ever go into Chicago? How?

Answer : “Nope, never have… Ever since moving here I’ve never been to Chicago… I live outside the US… I’m from the CNMI.”

Would you support a Metra train running to NIU?

Answer : “Yes…because I feel like there’s not a lot of things to do in DeKalb if you’re staying over the weekend. So having that Metra train from DeKalb going to Chicago would be much more beneficial because it gives students, like, freedom to do whatever they want instead of having to pay for the Greyhound bus to take them to a train station…and then the train station to Chicago, and going back. But having a direct line of access from NIU to Chicago, I feel like would be very useful.”