Metra engineer quits after letting teen drive

A Metra engineer resigned Monday on the eve of a hearing into whether he allowed a teenage railroad enthusiast to drive a train.

Brian Voss, a 12-year Metra employee, stepped down in the wake of the allegations that also involved two other engineers accused of letting the 18-year-old into the cab and locomotive of a train.

The three were suspended Oct. 9 without pay after Metra learned about the controversy when the teen broadcast his experiences on MySpace.

Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said Voss did not give an explanation for leaving in his resignation letter.

"Metra accepted his resignation and he will not be operating a Metra train again," she said.

Civilians aren't permitted to enter the cabs or locomotives of trains. The danger is that in a busy urban area such as Chicago with track construction, slow zones and oncoming traffic from freight and commuter trains, they can be easily distracted, officials said.

"Any time people are accused of acting inappropriately we take it seriously because it's so difficult to drive a train," Pardonnet said.

Metra officials and members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen will jointly conduct the hearing into the fate of the two other engineers, which was set for today and Thursday.

Voss was one of three engineers involved in a fatal train accident that took the life of a 10-year-old Schaumburg boy in 2004, Pardonnet said.

Michael DeLarco was killed at the River Grove Metra station Feb. 23 as he walked across the tracks to meet his father. The fifth-grader had just exited an eastbound Metra train with his mother and sister when he was struck by a westbound train. Metra said the engineers had violated safety rules and that the eastbound train should have waited for the westbound one to pass, or the westbound train should have held off until it received an signal from the eastbound one. The union disputed that claim.

Voss, who lives in Rockford, could not be reached for comment Monday.