Passenger Trains > Flash floods hit Chicago and its trains

This morning there were huge delays across many rail lines impacting both Metra and Amtrak trains. It's hard to gauge the impact as Metra's website is down.

On my own commute I attempted to depart Chicago on a Metra NCS train (Soo Line/Wisc Central) which was delayed. I tried Ogilvie instead but found massive delays on all inbound/outboud Metra Union Pacific trains with issues at Lake Street, the only throat into Ogilvie.

I headed back to Union and rode through massive storms to see downed grade crossing arms on the Soo Line. Power was also out at many crossings.

The Milwaukee Line, which runs Metra commuter trains, the Hiawatha and Empire Builder, were also impacted with workers visible along the various switches on the route.

This will take awhile to get cleared up and more rain is expected. Things may get worse before they get better.

And the roads looked worse with major interstates like the Kennedy (I-90) shut down - rare for us in Chicago.

*UPDATE - Metra site is back up showing an impact on almost all routes, even the Electric District. Flash flood warnings posted through 2pm. 1300 flights also cancelled at O'Hare. Metra says all inbound UP trains halted at Lake Street.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/13 06:49 by DR04.

Great info but please explain Ogilvie and Union???

Olgivie is the old CNW station and serves some of the commuter lines to N and NW suburbs. Union refers to Union Station with the commuter trains to the W and SW burbs. All Amtrak runs out of Union Station

From looking at the dixieland site that posts Amtrak train locations, I see that Quincy train #381 lost 27 min Chicago-La Grange Road and the #380 lost 55 min Quincy-Galesburg. CHI-STL #301 lost 11 min. CHI-Joliet. Didn't look like anything unusual occurring with the CHI-Milwaukee trains, but this will need to be rechecked as #332 gets closer to Chicago. Will also need to check later to see how #29, #49, #350, #351 and #371 perform over NS' Chicago Line and how #58 and #391 get along over the former IC.

Andy

Well, when interstates, tollways, and airports are flooded, rails usually are too. With over 4.66 inches of rain in less than 24 hours (at O'Hare), in a month that usually sees a shade over 3" during the whole month - well, draining is a little bit strained.

Rivers & creeks are overflowing, underpasses are lakes, there is a hug sinkhole on the south side - basically, it's a mess. My wife was supposed o fly out today, and all night, United has been calling with cancellations, re-bookings, repeat. Now it looks like 6am tomorrow.

It is a mess. I drove my girlfriend a few blocks to the Rogers Park Metra stop because it would have been madness to try and walk outside. Clogged drainage and the sheer volume of rain had my street covered in water (though not really flooded.) People at the metra stop, with its puny shelter, were hiding anywhere they could. What I thought was her train was another that was 45" late, and it must have taken 5 minutes for boarding. I feel sorry for the conductors today, that have to be absolutely soaked... and I saw them standing dutifully in the middle of it to make sure doors closed safely.

It really is a mess.

At this point delays to Metra commuter trains at around 2 hours are common impacting almost all the Chicago rail commuters into most terminal stations (Ogilvie/CNW, Union Station, etc). This looks nasty. At least trains are getting past Lake Street now so Ogilvie/CNW is partially moving.

The CTA 'L' appears to be surviving and may be a good alternative to the commuter railroads, but the feeder buses to the stations are getting screwed up due to so many roads being closed.

Another 2-6 inches can be expected in the next line of the storm hitting the far western burbs at this minute. NWS is recommending people stay home if possible, too late for most commuters. There was little to no warning of the significance of this system.

Maybe I'll just hope/pretend this nightmare will all be cleaned up by the 4-5pm rush! Hopefully the power can stay on...

Here outside Buffalo I have been watching The Weather Channel and they have had some on site shots of a sinkhole containing 3 cars and loads of bad street flooding with a nod to METRA being up to an hour off schedule. Western New York is expected to get hit with the weather front Friday morning with heavy but not severe thunder bumpers and lots of rain. So far in April we are over 2 inches ahead in rainfall for the month and counting. Will the real Spring please arrive!!

Phil Blommendahl
Getzville, NY

I just planted new grass seed. We need a little of that water in the PNW. (That's a switch!)

My outbound BNSF scoot normally departs at 7:01, this morning we left maybe 10 minutes late. Arrived Rt. 59 9:10. Normally a 40-45 minute ride. Slow going but we made it. Water up to the top of the railhead in spots, new creeks running down the center main in areas, BNSF crews out monitoring all over the place. If your familiar with the area in Lisle called 7 Bridges (just south of the BNSF main and west of the station) well today it's called 1 bridge as that's all I could see.

Update from Amtrak.com:
#29 arrived CUS 1'49" LT
#49 1'40" LT
#332 8" LT
#380 1'25" LT
#300 58" LT
#58 2" AHD

Andy

glcaddis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Olgivie is the old CNW station and serves some of
> the commuter lines to N and NW suburbs. Union
> refers to Union Station with the commuter trains
> to the W and SW burbs. All Amtrak runs out of
> Union Station

Close, but not exactly. Olgivie serves ex-CNW lines from the north, northwest, and west. Union serves other lines from the west and southwest, but also serves ex-MILW lines from the north.

So, for instance, trains from Lake Forest's ex-CNW station serve Olgivie, but trains from Lake Forest's ex-MILW station serve Union.

It's the End of Life as We Know It!

There are no "scoots" on the BN. They are known as "dinkys". "scoots" ran on the C&NW.

One news report this evening attributed the problems at Lake Street (UP/Ogilvie) to a lightning strike.

We witnessed a westbound scoot walking through standing water at Grace (Lombard) this noon. At that point it was about seven minutes off schedule...or was it 1:07?

Carl Shaver
Lombard, IL

I planned to do a day trip on Amtrak trains 301 and 304 from Chicago to Springfield and return today with a few hours to check out the Lincoln historic sites. However due to the forecasts of heavy rain and thunderstorms, I cancelled the trip and spent the day in the Loop.

In the evening I rode round trip on Metra's UP West Line from Chicago to Elmhurst and back. The outbound trip was delayed a bit and the return trip from Elmhurst left a couple of minutes late.

jo-tower Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are no "scoots" on the BN. They are known
> as "dinkys". "scoots" ran on the C&NW.


And the Milwaukee Road.

hey those poor folks need the WATER!!!!