advertisement

Power outage delays resolved at Union Station

Metra service is back to normal for BNSF riders using Union Station after a frustrating morning rush hour Thursday.

BNSF trains in and out of Union Station halted just before 8 a.m. following a power outage.

"The longest delays were in the range of 40 minutes," Metra spokeswoman Meg Thomas-Reile said in late morning. "Train 1260 is currently out there delayed up to 24 minutes but the cause is a combo of catching up from the signal issues and a separate mechanical problem."

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the commercial power outage lasted about 10 minutes. Amtrak owns Union Station and operates the tracks and signals in its vicinity.

The glitch Thursday comes after a frustrating winter for passengers on BNSF, North Central Service, Milwaukee District and other lines using Union Station.

In late February, an Amtrak worker upgrading servers fell onto a circuit board, causing massive delays for Metra commuters because the accident crashed the automatic dispatch system.

Amtrak officials apologized for the error and promised a number of changes in the wake of the outage, but commuters were not reimbursed for the trouble. Congressional leaders have sought greater scrutiny of Amtrak operations in the aftermath.

Thousands of commuters affected by train signal problems

Cause of massive Metra delays: A worker fell on the circuit board

Amtrak blames Chicago Union Station delays on 'human error'

Comfy new Metra cars, but not comfy situation with Amtrak

More scrutiny for Amtrak and no reimbursement for riders after Feb. 28 mess-up

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.