(The following story by Richard Wronski appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on September 5.)
CHICAGO — Train service has been a harmonious part of the Ravinia experience since the park was built by the fledgling Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad in 1904. But there were sour notes sounded among concertgoers Monday night when no Metra train showed up to take them home.
The Ravinia Special typically arrives 15 minutes after the performance of the annual Labor Day Spectacular, but after waiting more than two hours for a train, anxious music fans felt neither special nor spectacular.
The missing train—the cause of which was still a mystery Wednesday—was the second embarrassment in two weeks for Metra on its Union Pacific North Line.
During the fierce thunderstorm of Aug. 23, several hundred passengers were ordered to leave a Metra train amid rain and lightning when the train’s Union Pacific Railroad engineer reached the federally mandated shift limit.
Both incidents have Metra officials steamed at the Omaha-based Union Pacific, which contractually operates the trains and provides crews on the UP North.
“We’re trying to get to the bottom of why there was confusion by the UP,” said Judy Pardonnet, a Metra spokeswoman.
Union Pacific couldn’t offer an explanation for either incident Wednesday, but expressed regret.
“We want to apologize to the passengers who ride the North Line and we’ll try to find out what happened and make corrective actions,” company spokesman Mark Davis said.
Concertgoers became concerned when the Ravinia Special failed to show after Monday’s performance, which ended about 9 p.m., said frequent Ravinia patron Stephen Rudolph of Wilmette.
“The wait for the train was longer than the concert,” Rudolph said.
Pardonnet blamed a scheduling snafu between Ravinia and Union Pacific.
Another train scheduled to stop at Ravinia at 10:38 p.m. had mechanical problems and didn’t arrive until about 11:15.
By that time, about 130 concertgoers had been treated to free soda, coffee and dessert at Ravinia’s restaurant, said Nick Pullia, Ravinia’s spokesman.
In the Aug. 23 incident, the 4:13 p.m. UP North train out of Chicago was jammed with commuters trying to get home during the storm.
When the train reached Kenilworth, passengers said, a conductor announced that everyone had to exit because the engineer had worked the maximum number of hours, which is normally 12.
Passengers were forced out into gale-force winds and lightning and waited 20 minutes for the next train, passenger Roseanne Harrington of Winnetka said.
“This was the goofiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Harrington said.