by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
Visit The Weekly Breakdown on the web at http://www.urbanophile.com/breakdown/
From the I'm Not Making This Up Department: A Chicago Tribune article this week contained a reference to a lawsuit from a couple years ago where the family of a man killed after urinating on the third rail of the L was awarded over $1 million in damages. The man in question disregarded several warnnig signs (he didn't speak English) and climbed over a fence to reach his "destination". A Darwin Award nominee, anyone? I mention this in case you thought "pissing on the third rail" was an urban legend. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 9/2/98 ]
The results of a Midwest high speed rail study were released this week. This report showed several promising candidate corridors, including Chicago to Milwaukee and Chicago to Cincinnati via Indianapolis. Chicago would be the hub of the Midwest system. Local leaders hope to start construction by the year 2000 and have an operational system by 2006. [ Source: Chicago Tribune 9/1/98 ] [ Start construction in 2000? Good luck - AMR ]
Another friendly reminder, there is a high speed rail mailing list at the Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest. To subscribe, see the web page http://www.elpc.org/HSRList.htm This mailing list is low volume and consists mostly of announcement type messages.
Adam Kerman wrote to tell us that a judge in Phoenix has upheld a transit authority policy of banning ads by certain organizations that they deem too controversial. Apparently the transit agency is worried about being subjected to picketing by those opposed to the ads in question.
Mike Pietrusiniski (nospam-petro@interaccess.com) wrote in to tell us that a friend of his said their was a fire on the Red Line near 35th St. Apparently her train was stopped there for about 40 minutes. Anybody have details on this?
This week there were two days when my Evanston Express train and a Ravenswood got to Clark Jct. at the exact same time. Fortunately, my train got to first both times.
9/6, ~6:45pm - It took us 5 minutes to get from Jarivs to Howard on my Red Line train. This is not an estimate. I timed the delay on my watch. These stations are about two blocks apart.
The Weekly Breakdown is a small Internet journal devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a regular rider of the Chicago Transit Authority. I would be happy to hear about and include your experiences. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
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