CTA Train Lines
The CTA is widely used across the entire City of Chicago for many different reasons. The CTA is what transports people to many different areas around Chicago. It is also routinely checked to make sure that everything is working smoothly, to prevent certain catastrophic failures. The CTA is also a very fast way for people to get to and from certain places, such as work.
However, this does not mean that the CTA is completely safe from certain things from occurring. Additionally, many people expect CTA trains to maintain a safe environment. However, that is sometimes not the case.
Orange Line Train Derailment
As of last week, there was an orange line train derailment that left the City of Chicago rattled. This was something completely impromptu and was never supposed to happen. Thankfully, as reported by the CFD, there were 42 passengers on board, but there were no transports to the hospital or injuries.
This could have gone severely worse, but it is a relief that everyone on board was safe. There are ongoing investigations that are taking place, to really figure out what the cause of this derailment was, and how to prevent future derailments of this kind.
Commuters on Board This Train
Commuters on board this train had a scary experience when learning that there was a derailment on their train. However, after this entire experience, there were many commuters that were not so pleased with what they encountered. Particularly, one experience was detailed as “very inconvenient.” Additionally, this particular commuter added on that “its always something with the CTA.” Therefore, there were a lot of negative experiences that were detailed after this incident. People do have places to go that are of importance, so something of this nature happening is certainly very unprecedented.
Additionally, the weather was certainly not in favor of this particular incident. It was below freezing outside, and they had to wait for a long while for shuttle trains to pick up the passengers on board this train. Additionally, the rescue teams also needed some time to warm up, so these teams were constantly switching to ensure that these rescue teams received enough warmth.
Metra Also Experiencing Delays
While the orange line train had derailed, there were also incidents involving Metra trains as well. Metra trains were running 20-30 minutes late to their destination because of the intense weather conditions.
Additionally, many Metra trains had to undergo track repairs very last minute, again due to the extreme weather conditions. Therefore, across the entire state of Illinois, there were many issues involving train lines.
However, as the weather continues to warm up, there will certainly be a lot of work done on these tracks, to ensure that problems of this nature are reduced heavily. This was certainly an event that no amount of preparation could have solved.
The Future of These Lines
This orange line derailment was certainly scary, however something that could certainly be avoided in the future. There needs to be work done on both ends of these stations, to ensure that they run safely, and smoothly. Additionally, there are many people taking to social media, expressing their lack of trust in CTA and Metra because of these recent incidents.
However, no one was really expecting the weather conditions to be so strong. However, there are people that are just glad that they are safe after the incident, and are hoping nothing of the nature happens again. It is unclear what safety measures may be put in place by the state of Illinois or CTA to ensure incidents of this nature do not occur in the future.
Written by David Loran Jr
Sources:
WGN 9 News: Investigation into Orange Line train derailment continues
ABC 7 News: CTA, Metra and Amtrak service disrupted amid dangerously cold Chicago weather
The Chicago Tribune: 20 people evacuated after CTA Orange Line train derails
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Dianne Yee’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Anthony Quintano’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
