According to the latest round of numbers released by Metra, the number of people using the commuter rail service has risen to levels not seen since the months and weeks before the national and local economy cratered into recession.

In its monthly report to the Metra Board of Directors, the rail agency stated the total number of trips on all of Metra’s rail lines combined in the first three months of the year had risen to 19.9 million, an increase of 1.4 percent compared to January through March 2011.

That marks the highest number of riders across the entire commuter rail system in the first quarter since 2009, when 20.2 million trips were logged from January to March.