Note: The following email is from Ms. Marni Pyke who covers transportation for the Daily Herald as we discuss Metra and Union Pacific rail safety.
From: Pyke, Marni;mpyke@dailyherald.com
Subject: RE: Metra and Union Pacific responsible for the Spike in train vs. car, pedestrian collision
Thanks Keith - I may use your comments in a future column ..., I noticed you didn't mention BNSF at all ... any reason for that ?
Dear Ms. Pyke,
Thank you for the response.
I commuted to the Chicago Loop on Metra for about 12 years. My experience has been with The Northwestern and Union Pacific. There was a rapid deterioration of service and safety during those 12 years, mostly after Union Pacific took over. The commuting meltdown during the recent weather event is really no surprise. Metra tends to blame everything or everyone else but themselves, including for all the fatalities around their rail crossings.
I did not intentionally exclude BNSF. Several friends that ride the Metra/BNSF line would concur with the same problems, maybe worse.
In my opinion there seems to be a media bias against really examining these horrific rail accidents. A train/pedestrian accident is generally not reported, framed in the expected time delay on the system or blamed the victim in some way. These accidents are a huge public health problem and will only, amazingly increase for many reasons.
Unofficially from what I remember, with the statistics you cited in your article, fatalities around rail crossings have increased about 200% since 1995. This may be worse than a disease epidemic in some cases. Where and how does this stop? Programs such as Look, Listen and Live are good, but are far short of what is needed to curb this human carnage.
Then Metra will give themselves a Safety Award and display it in the Ogilvie Transportation Center. We have a long way to go on this problem.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Keith A. Moens
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