Haven't had a chance to mention that my commuting time was severly hampered last week. Seems one of the trestles on the Illinois Central line that my Metra Electric train runs over burned down the night of June 22. I learned this as I was driving to my station Monday morning the 23rd: No trains would be running south of 115th Street (I'm at about the 215th Street area). So I decided my best bet would be to drive to the Metra Rock Island station in Oak Forest-- a bit of a detour involving driving through road construction either on Cicero Ave. or I-57. Made the train there, which ends at a different station meaning I walk further to work, only managed to be half-an-hour late. Tuesday, Metra announces that all affected riders should go to the Oak Forest station. Bigger crowds all 'round. They also "anticipate" the bridge will be repaired by the following Wednesday, July 2.
Wednesday, Metra breaks down and charters lots of buses to meet riders at some of the Electric stations and shuttle them to Oak Forest. We continue operating this way the rest of the week.
But, on Monday, June 30, they announce the viaduct has been repaired, and we can go back to using the Electric line a day early! That's pretty good for a public infrastructure project!
Now if only they could start that rehab of the Randolph Street station, which had all its amenities town out 3 years ago, then had it's rebuilding stalled while the city rebuilt Michigan Avenue, then its bloated Millenium Park project.
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