(The following appeared at WBBM.com on August 16.)
CHICAGO — Metra is apologizing to passengers stranded on a train for three hours Friday night while crews worked on multiple technical problems on its tracks.
A Union Pacific West Line train that left Ogilvie Transportation Center at 10:40 p.m. experienced a major switch and signal failure between Lake Street and Kedzie Avenue, according to Metra spokeswoman Meg Reilly.
Although more than one train experienced problems, the train that departed at 10:40 p.m. experienced the worst effects — with passengers stranded for three hours, Reilly said.
Passengers from that train were switched to another train, but were once again stalled, this time by a freight train stopped because of a signal failure, Reilly said.
The repairs were slowed when Metra crew members had to be relieved because they had worked the maximum amount of hours under federal law.
“It wasn’t until 3 a.m. before some of those people made it home,” Reilly said.
Metra is working to look at ways to minimize delays and to understand what caused the switch and signal failures, Reilly said.