(The following article by Guy Tridgell was posted on the Chicago Daily Southtown website on October 17.)
CHICAGO — Metra’s SouthWest Service Line certainly got bigger, but it didn’t necessarily get any better.
The number of daily trains grew from 16 to 30 at the start of the year. After previously terminating in Orland Park, Metra also extended the line deep into the suburban outer ring by running trains to Manhattan.
The response was immediate.
Ticket sales are up 21 percent — from 158,839 to 192,633 — through August.
Yet the increase in riders also means a brighter spotlight is shining on problems that have dogged the line for years.
Tardiness. Miscommunication with dispatchers from other railroads. Trains marooned on the tracks.
All of the inconveniences are courtesy of the SouthWest Service Line plowing through some of nastiest railroad traffic in the country.
“I can’t complain too much. It still gets me to work each day,” said Janet Chutro, who catches the train each day in Palos Park. “But we hear the standard excuses because there are still the same mistakes: We get stuck a lot by freight traffic.”
The past couple of weeks were the worst.
A spate of severe weather consistently fouled up the trackside signals that coordinate train movements, according to Metra officials. Delays were common.
Debbie McCarthy, of Oak Lawn, said her Metra train stopped for several minutes across intersecting railroad tracks during one commute.
“They tell you not to stop your car on the tracks. Why would you stop your train on them?” McCarthy said. “It was great that we got all these extra trains, but lately it’s been horrible.”
The frustration grew Thursday when a train on the CSX Railroad stalled and blocked inbound SouthWest Service Line trains. The delays were stretched even longer because the CSX Railroad crew needed to be replaced because they were exceeding Federal Railroad Administration rules requiring fresh workers after 12 hours.
SouthWest Service Line trains arrived at Chicago’s Union Station as much as 90 minutes late.
After discussions with CSX Railroad officials, Metra vowed the situation will never happen again.
“Everything that could go wrong that morning did,” Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said.
The string of mistakes prompted Metra to make the rare gesture of placing fliers on each seat apologizing for the gaffes. Not once, but twice.
Metra leases the SouthWest Service Line tracks from the Norfolk-Southern Railroad for $2 million a year. Metra and the Norfolk-Southern also share the tracks with the CSX Railroad and the Belt Railway Co. of Chicago.
The Forest Hills interlocker, where all of the lines converge near 79th Street and Ashland Avenue, is a frequent trouble spot.
Metra executive director Phil Pagano said the SouthWest Service Line problems are another reason to proceed with the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program. The $1.5 billion program, aimed at untying rail congestion, calls for at least two bridges to separate the lines near the troublesome interlocker.
“It needs to move forward,” Pagano said.
The program received a boost last month when $330 million in federal funding arrived. But the remainder of the money will take 10 years to reach Chicago, at least.
That leaves plenty of time for SouthWest Service Line commuters to miss doctor appointments, arrive late to work and pay extra fees to baby sitters because their trains aren’t on schedule.
“People on the train get very upset because their employers pitch a fit,” Chutro said. “I’m pretty lucky. I can live with it, but not everyone can.”