by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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Something was seriously wrong with Metra's UP lines last Monday. All of them had major am delays. A co-worker of mine got to the Highland Park station at 6:20am and no trains had gone through yet. The first one blew past express. The second made all stops to Wilmette, then expressed to downtown. I got to Main St. a couple minutes early for the 8:01 figuring I'd buy a paper for the ride. Instead a train was just pulling into the station, so I jumped on it. I'm not sure which one it was, but it made all stops to downtown. The train pulled out of the station about 8:00, leaving several people scrambling up the stairs to the platform in disbelief as they checked their watches. Other UP lines had similar problems. I've got no idea what caused this.
Sunday I went to a friend's house on the West Side for a fantasy football draft. (Incidentally, that is the reason this issue is out a day late). I thought I would take the L and transfer to the Grand Ave. bus. After 15 minutes waiting, the bus finally came, but the driver said he was only going to Milwaukee and that the next bus "might" go further west. I decided to take a cab.
"Tom Cat" wrote in with this very interesting tale:
My wife had an experience on the Green Line a couple weeks ago -- she says she's too busy to write it up herself, so here's my report on her story...She sometimes leaves The Loop at around 6:30pm, and takes the Green Line train to Oak Park. One evening she didn't get home till around 8pm, and said that she had had one of those CTA adventures.
Train left the loop around 6:45pm. Train stopped between California and Kedzie. Sat for maybe ten or fifteen minutes. No announcements over the intercom.
Train finally started moving and arrived at Kedzie. Where there were about a dozen Chicago cops waiting on the platform, some with guns drawn.
Some of the cops boarded the train and walked through. The train sat for a while longer. Finally, my wife heard one of the cops on the platform say "It must be the next train."
Finally, there was an announcement from the motorman, apologizing for the delay and advising that the train would run express to Harlem. As most of the passengers were not going that far, a good number got off the train. Onto the platform. Where there were still a dozen cops. With guns.
Cops ordered the people back on the train. Told the motorman to get going. So lots of people had to ride all the way to Harlem and then back to their stops, and were probably very late getting home.
And my wife never did find out who or what was on the train behind hers...
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