July 3rd Schedules

MetraBNSF wrote:July 3 should be an intetrsting day of railfanning, especially during the afternoon/early evening.

Yes, and I just thought of something else - has Metra aver had any problems with people shooting off fireworks at the trains? Not that the passengers are in any real danger, but people seem to gravitate toward railroad embankments when setting off the "heavier stuff" because it's generally away from their house. I'd imagine there could be problems with people milling around the tracks, with fireworks in hand and possibly affected by some degree of inebriation...

MetraBNSF wrote:24 extra trains will be run on the BNSF on July 3.

There's actually 26 extra trains being run today, with 2 D.G. expresses leaving at 12:28 and 1:28pm. 120 Metra's today, that's a lot of Metra.

byte wrote:Yes, and I just thought of something else - has Metra aver had any problems with people shooting off fireworks at the trains? Not that the passengers are in any real danger, but people seem to gravitate toward railroad embankments when setting off the "heavier stuff" because it's generally away from their house. I'd imagine there could be problems with people milling around the tracks, with fireworks in hand and possibly affected by some degree of inebriation...

That's possible, but I'm pretty sure the engineers have learned to expect this sort of thing around the 4th, and aren't bothered too much by it. Besides, if they ever got too close to the point of trespassing, the engineers can always notify the dispatcher, who would then inform the local authorities to shoo them away...