Monday, January 6, 2014

Metra “Not Equipped For Extreme Cold”

It was –20 in South Elgin this morning (-53 wind chill) so knowing it would be that cold I arranged going to work with a co-worker friend who is in town this weekend. We agreed to meet at the Hanover Train station at 8am. I got there early and parked the car and walked to the station and I have to admit, I was actually cold! I bought new Sketcher shoes designed for grip, what I missed is they are designed for hiking, during the summer and have great ventilation so my feet were frozen when I got into the station!

The place was packed with people who were there since about 6:30am!! The heat in the station wasn’t working but with that many people it was actually ok inside, that is it was until people started heading home. Metra announcements were trains are running about 40 minutes behind. I don’t know how they get away with blatantly lying like that but they do it. Most people had given up because the trains were stacking up at Western Ave where the switch had failed… AGAIN. 60% increase in rates the past 3 years and they refuse to replace the one switch that consistently fails. Their excuse, “We aren’t equipped to handle extreme cold”… SERIOUSLY??? It’s CHICAGO!!!!! They aren’t equipped for heat either because when it gets into the 90’s or higher that same switch fails and we have the same delays. Ugh.

One of the guys standing there has a relative who works right at the Western Ave station and he reported that the delays will be between 4 and 6 hours for morning traffic and worse for the return trip home for the evening rush hour. They had a 25 train backup on each rail coming in from the North, West and South, 2 of which converge at Western Ave.

I called my friend who was also running an hour plus behind because of furnace issues at the house he was staying at so I ended up cancelling the ride and going to my car. It took me another hour plus to drive 8 miles home. So, I had a 3 hour commute to the train station and home.. oy.

The shoes will be put aside until summer where they will perform hiking duties, hopefully they vent as well in the heat as they do in the cold!

Stay warm folks! Tomorrow we will be a balmy 3f! Heat wave!!  Smile

2 comments:

Rick and Kathy Rousseau said...

When heading south you make the decision what to leave behind. Last year we made all the right choices but this year something went drastically wrong. Mother nature must have thought to shake things up and make it interesting for everyone. We're all waiting for better days ahead. Be Safe and Enjoy!

It's about time.

JO said...

They are now admitting that there is no global warming but that it is actual getting colder. REALLY? Wonder what brought that thought to mind. My friends went to Wisconsin for the holidays and are do back Wed. if their plane isn't frozen to the ground. I wonder if they will do this again next year. Stay warm.