- Joined:
- Jun 25, 2010
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Your complaints are better organized than my friend. Then again situations are different. I don't ride Metra every day so I don't see a lot of these problems. My friend has a tendency to blame Metra for track problems, massive delays and what not and most of what he complains about are out of Metra's control on his line. A major problem with Metra is for most of the system, they don't own the tracks they operate on. Private freight lines operate and maintain the lines... so their freight trains get priority over anyone else, creating delays for the trains. Couple in with a massive amount of State and Federal regulations that railroads have and you have our current system today.
Another thing to point is... winter fucks up everything regardless of what the **** it is... Roads suck in the winter, tracks suck in the winter. Problems and delays are going to occur with weather... something many people don't seem to understand. As far as their equipment, that is 100% on them though. But a failure here or there is going to happen as well due to weather, just like peoples cars.
Your complain on #3... That's a major communication problem which is something I've read about in the papers often. Metra spokespersons say they're going to fix the issue, but I've seen those complaints for years, so I feel not much can be done.. Conductors are also in a union, which always creates unneeded problems. But there definitely needs to be better transparency.
#6... A lot of the latest rate hike is to update their equipment... I think it often depends on the lines.. but whenever I've rode (And I've only rode the UP West in recent years) the cars seem fine. But yeah, its no secret some of those cars are from the 1950's. Railroads have a tendency to do this though... Commuter cars before the current ones railroads were often using cars from the late 1880's in the early 1950's. Most of the Engines are from the 1980's as well, though I've been seeing new engines on other lines over the past 5 years.
And yeah, I know too much about the railroad industry.. its an interest of mine. Not to say Metra is blameless by any means, and I agree 100% the system needs massive upgrades and changes... Corruption has been a major part of Metra too (like any agency based out of Chicago lol). I won't even say they are doing the best they can be..because they could be a lot better... But you could not have a system period and be forced to drive and park downtown every day.
edobear:
