Tadman wrote:While the management was obviously looking out for themselves first, they also ran a fine railroad. A railroad that had little of the science fair experiment seen at other commuter roads. We could have the problem of LIRR, being run by political appointees, or NJT, having PL42's barfing all over the road. We don't, and that's a testament to our leadership despite their other problems.
I'm inclined to agree, but the cynic in me says that it's more a testament to Metra's conservative, and at times, rigid operating philosophy. You know, "We're just a mom and pop gallery car railroad that operates nothing but 645 engines. We've finally got around to having bathrooms on our electric district cars, and we're thinking about installing wi-fi (whatever that is.). Please know that our schedules are only to be taken seriously during rush hours. Off-peak or weekends, the trains get there when they get there. But don't forget that weekend pass, only 7 bucks!" That's Metra in a nutshell, more or less. With Clifford's ouster, I've given up on ever seeing "real" reform at Metra, unless politics are removed, which would be impossible. And privatizing it isn't the way to go either, that would get messy in a hurry. We'll simply have to live with an imperfect commuter railroad that does a decent job of moving folks around, and hope that the other problems don't get in the way too often...