Signal issues blamed for Friday morning’s Metra delays

If you use Metra to commute to and from the city, chances are you’re having a bad morning. That’s because Amtrack computer signaling problems caused one hell of a traffic jam for trains waiting to get into or out of Union Station during Friday's morning commute. At one point, as many as 42 trains were delayed from arriving or departing the downtown railroad station.

According to Metra, an issue with Amtrak’s computer signaling just before 6:30am prompted officials to halt rail service near Union Station. Metra quickly tweeted that it received an update from Amtrak, which stated that the control system would be coming back online in about 15 minutes. But by then, the damage had already been done.

Dozens of trains were either cancelled or delayed throughout the morning because of the signaling problem. Lengthy delays of 15 to 40 minutes were still being reported on Metra’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe line at 9:57am. Other routes affected include the Milwaukee District North and West lines, SouthWest and North Central service, and the Heritage Corridor line.

As you might expect, Chicagoans were not happy. Although Friday morning’s delay wasn’t Metra’s fault, that didn’t stop commuters from tweeting their frustrations at the commuter rail service.

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