Good evening, With all of the Cold weather this winter thae railroads are not imune. Metra has taken allot of heat lately, and while some of the critism was warrented much of it was not. Why is it that people in internet comment sctions whine and complain and blame railroad workers/unions? Thanks
“Sugar Boots Syndrome” and a lack of common sense.
Well WGN blamed an interlocking plant as outdated and built in the 30s today. . Said parts aren’t even available then asked the public what they thought about it.
I didn’t hear the actual broadcast on WGN so I don’t know the particulars but I have heard the story being mentioned. I would assume that the unavailable parts would include crossing frogs, which are not exactly off-the-shelf items.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a sizable percentage of the gripes about Metra’s performance is coming from snowbirds who will crawl back inside their cars after the weather improves and roads are salted.
Is not this material for the TRANSIT Forum?
Well, there’s your problem, right there!
“Metra has taken a lot of heat.”
There should be a government investigation into this, and court orders to force Metra to put the heat back into the atmosphere, where it belongs. Then maybe things will work better.
BC - someday you are going to pull too hard and someone’s leg is going to fall off! [:X]
SJ
Yeah, well, if you’re good at something, never do it for free!
And practice makes perfect….[:D]
It’s been a brutal winter here in Chicago. Snows every Saturday, polar vortex deep freeze at -20 degrees Monday to Wednesday and more snow on Thursdays. This has been the cycyle for the last six to seven weeks. It’s been one of the coldest winters on record and the total snowfall record is also within reach. Spring can’t get here fast enough this year!
Commuters are creatures of habit; leave at the same time every day, take the same train, sit in the same seat, etc. The harsh winter weather has affected every mode of transportation. Trains have to slow down, switches don’t work, engines stall, car doors freeze or won’t shut, etc. When trains aren’t running on schedule, commuters tend to get a bit grumpy. When commuters had to wait on a delayed train in Chicago only to be ordered off, by the Union Pacific, at the first station, that doesn’t have shelter, on a -10 below night because the crew was short on time… Those commuters were more than grumpy. They were frozen and angry.
WGN was reporting on the A2 interlocker, Apparently, it’s been the source of many Metra delays this winter.
CC
This past Sunday afternoon I spent a few hours (in my car and warm) watching the action at the BNSF Eola yard here in Aurora…and while there I watched with great interest a crew made up of BNSF and Hulcher employees cleaning and oiling switches at both ends of the yard. This was obviously EXTREMELY cold and hard work for these guys as the temperatures were in the low teens and falling (with some light snow falling). All of this made me think “no wonder the railroads, including BNSF and Metra, are having such a hard time if THIS is even a small part of what they have to deal with to keep the trains moving”. TO ALL THE TRACK AND RELATED CREWS OUT THERE ON BNSF AND OTHER RAILROADS, KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK…YOU DESERVE EVERY PENNY OF EARNINGS YOU RECIEVE IN THIS KIND OF WEATHER".
Well said! And the UP took the blame in full for that incident at the Clybourn stop involving rigid use of HOS rules, yet some posters appear oblivious to that fact, preferring to blame the commuters.
Rigid use of HOS rules? I’m not sure I understand that. Aren’t the rules the rules?
There can be exceptions. Even those have rules, but given the circumstances FRA would likely have been understanding.
UP has a problem of its own making. The dispatchers for the METRA lines apparently are in Texas. They apparently on occason make decisions on what the track diagram tells them without any consideration of the physical state of the environment at the trains they are controling. This dumping passengers on a wind-swept open freezing platfom to wait an hour in the middle of a snowstorm may be the worst of these incidents, but it is not the only one.
In the February issue the British-based magazine, Trams and Urban Transit, the reporter sent to cover Chicago public transporaton developments reported that he coulld not board the train at Villa Nova station to connect with another train in Chicago because the dispatcher had halted a freight directly over the level crossing he needed to use, along with some 20 other indending passengers, to board the train. He ended up with a freind driving him to Chicago since he could not wait 2-1/2 hours (weekend service). The freight train could have been halted 100 yards away at the previous signal.
I’m not sure about the situation at Villa Park (there is no Villa Nova station anywhere on Metra) but Elmhurst and other stations do have grade-separated crosswalks to connect the platforms.
You sound a lot like an operating crewman, blaming the dispatcher for all of the operating situations that are less than perfect.
What railroad has signals spaced 100 yards apart? Maybe in England - not in the US. I am certain all the carriers that host METRA have rules that apply to T&E crew about not blocking out passenger stations, I know mine does. When trains have emergency brake applications all bets are off on where they stop and what they block.
[swg]
Villa Park has no passageway beneath the tracks (there’s a street crossing at the west end of the platforms, and a signaled, gated, ATWS-equipped pedestrian crossing at the east end). Yes, there are definite rules about keeping the platforms open in Metra territory, and State laws about fouling crossings…and yes, the ped walks count as crossings.
Last I knew, UP’s terminal dispatcher was at Proviso. However, his territory doesn’t cover this part of the line; that’s Dispatcher 11 in Omaha.
“Villa Nova” sounds too hoity-toity for anywhere around Chicago!
Villa Park has never been one of our hoity-toity towns, even in the Ovaltine days!!!