The route of the proposed line would use tracks owned by CSX Transportation and the Union Pacific Railroad.

The building of a line from Chicago to the south suburbs ending at Balmoral Park has been discussed as early as 1986.

[2] In 2003, Metra officials proposed the SouthEast Service at the insistence of Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. that the south suburbs be included as part of Metra's larger request for federal dollars after they were largely excluded from the proposed STAR Line.

[5] In 2010, Al Riley became the chief sponsor of House Bill 1644 which created the Southeast Commuter Rail Transit District as a municipal corporation under Illinois state law.

[7] In 2019, the SouthEast Service was included in a Cost Benefit Analysis by Metra as a Tier 2 project.