by orangeline
This morning I drove my wife to the LaGrange Road station where she would take the Metra BNSF downtown. There was an announcement that due to track construction trains could be delayed up to 20 minutes.
There was quite a large crowd waiting for a train and so I parked in the nearby lot and waited with her on the platform. Here are some observations with questions:
1. Outbound trains appeared to be running on the center track until the crossovers near Congress Park where they changed to the outbound track. However, after switching to the outbound track the trains moved through LaGrange, Stone Ave and at least as far as Western Springs at what appeared to be no more than 10-15 mph. Why was that?
2. There was at least one instance where I could see 2 sets of headlights on outbound trains, and one of those sets was on the inbound track and the other on the center track. Again, they eventually switched onto the outbound track and moved west at a very slow speed, even though there was a green light for the first train.
3. Inbound express trains that had no conflicting outbound traffic on the center track moved through LaGrange at what seemed to be normal speed. Why inbound moving fast if outbound moving so slow?
4. An inbound train finally stopped to pick up passengers at the station. The 7 cars all looked to be filled to the gills, maybe SRO. There was no other inbound following train in sight.
5. What happened to cause this kind of disruption today?
There was quite a large crowd waiting for a train and so I parked in the nearby lot and waited with her on the platform. Here are some observations with questions:
1. Outbound trains appeared to be running on the center track until the crossovers near Congress Park where they changed to the outbound track. However, after switching to the outbound track the trains moved through LaGrange, Stone Ave and at least as far as Western Springs at what appeared to be no more than 10-15 mph. Why was that?
2. There was at least one instance where I could see 2 sets of headlights on outbound trains, and one of those sets was on the inbound track and the other on the center track. Again, they eventually switched onto the outbound track and moved west at a very slow speed, even though there was a green light for the first train.
3. Inbound express trains that had no conflicting outbound traffic on the center track moved through LaGrange at what seemed to be normal speed. Why inbound moving fast if outbound moving so slow?
4. An inbound train finally stopped to pick up passengers at the station. The 7 cars all looked to be filled to the gills, maybe SRO. There was no other inbound following train in sight.
5. What happened to cause this kind of disruption today?
"Welcome aboard Orange Line run 711. Travel time to downtown is 25 minutes. Next stop will be Pulaski."
