Metra readies reforms in the wake of scandal

After a turbulent couple of months following the suicide of Executive Director Phil Pagano, the Metra board of directors imposed a forced sense of normalcy on its July meeting Friday in Chicago.

Yet in her closing remarks Chairman Carole Doris allowed, "We've been through a lot in recent months, and it hasn't been easy," while promising a series of "very important reforms" to "create a new Metra" with "new enthusiasm" for technology, transparency and accountability.

Interim inspector general Hillard Heintze, Doris said, will investigate overtime and vacation-time abuses and other irregularities uncovered in the Pagano probe until a permanent inspector general can be appointed. He was named to the post in May after Pagano's suicide broke the scandal wide open.

"We welcome continued scrutiny," Doris said, and "we look forward to recently scheduled legislative hearings," a reference to a probe launched this week in the General Assembly by state Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat.

Otherwise, the meeting veered toward more usual transportation issues, including discussion of a $185 million bridge-replacement project that will reduce express trains and change train schedules along the Union Pacific North Line. The two-phase, eight-year project will see the North Line cut down to one track in certain areas, leading to schedule changes that will begin Aug. 21 and "limited express service" over the course of the rehab. The funds, including $35 million in economic stimulus funding, will pay to replace 22 bridges.