What if Metra didn't terminate?

Metra probably does the best job of any heavy commuter rail system in the nation: it efficently moves suburbanites into the core of Chicago. It is marvelously on time. It is designed to do the job assigned to it. But what if.... Imagine somehow that the Metra system could be asked to do another job. That job would be to work in tandem with CTA (while still maintaining separate status) to more effectively move Chicagoland transportation by making Metra terminals downtown into stations along the route. Admittedly that might cause some problems in scheduling; commuter rail is based on departure times from downtown or end terminals. but those could be fixed if necessary. In fact, the current system of scheduled suburban-to-downtown trains could remain in place with other trains on the tracks using downtown as a stop, not terminal. Union Station has the capacity to move through traffic both north and south of its terminal. As a result Ogilvie benefits from those very tracks running a block to their east. Track adjustment could open Ogilvie to areas to the south. It would be more expensive to make a connection from the west of the river terminals to LaSalle Street Station, but distance makes this one feasible, too. No direct link could go north from Randolph St. station, but the lines to the south that use it could cut over in the South Loop towards LaSalle and the west of river terminals. Look, I realize that this is a multi-billion dollar project I'm suggesting, but it is still far cheaper than an extensive building of new CTA lines over much greater distances. In fact, my suggestion may be a bit like CTA's Circle Line concept in the sense that it makes tremendous use of existing track to implement a fundamental change to its system. Could it work?>