Quiet cars...

The noise of the train is probably easier to accept and block out than the noise of commuters talking and phones ringing.

My concern with the car next to the engine would be with the baseline diesel rumble and acceleration that would just provide a source of annoyance. That sort of noise can become as wearing as a couple across the aisle or person on a cellphone talking all the way to your destination. A brief conversation is fine but after a few minutes you just want them to shut up and ride.

Tadman wrote:I think the issue is moot for <30 minute rides anyway. For guys riding all the way to Fox Lake or University Park, I can understand the need for quiet. But to need a quiet car for the ride to inner suburb stops? That's a little excessive. I ride the CTA, which has this really cool service called "cattle car" where one is so tightly packed into the car one can tell what cologne or perfume a person nearby is wearing and maybe what that person had for breakfast. But it's for 10-15 minutes so I do the "put-up/shut-up" method of coping.

30 minutes may not seem like a long time, but trust me, if you're in a car where people let their brats scream and run up and down the aisles, it seems like an eternity. I used to ride the CTA Kennedy line to work. Don't miss it one bit, especially now that they are going to the bowling alley seating. I can't wait for the quiet cars to migrate over to the Milwaukee West.

As most are aware, tomorrow is day 1 of quiet cars on RI. Decals have been applied to the head and rear cars in anticipation of tomorrows am rush:

Nice, I hope they put signs inside too.

The Daily Herald had a story about the Rock Island quiet cars today titled "Rock on - quietly?". It was accompanied by a picture of 611 leading a westbound at Bartlett. Looks like someone didn't do their homework.

or maybe they're a F40C fan. Stock photos are just that -- stock photos...

Did anyone ride in a quiet car yet?

While I did not ride, I did notice more passengers than usual getting out from the head car at 80th Avenue tonight. I'm sure the program is here to stay, I would just change the cab car from the QC designation.

I agree, especially on an inbound train. That has to be the noisiest car on the train. Kind of makes it an oxymoron.

I guess they do it because it has the least chance of people tramping through it looking for a seat.

Designating the first and last cars of a train as quiet cars is the simplest way to do. Making the third car from the back and second from the front the quiet cars would require a lot of searching that the average commuter wouldn't bother to do. The "quiet" in quiet cars refers to noise from fellow passengers - constant cell phone chatter, inane conversations, music leaking from earphones, etc., not the noise from the train operation. It is a train, not a church.

CHTT1 wrote:Designating the first and last cars of a train as quiet cars is the simplest way to do. Making the third car from the back and second from the front the quiet cars would require a lot of searching that the average commuter wouldn't bother to do. The "quiet" in quiet cars refers to noise from fellow passengers - constant cell phone chatter, inane conversations, music leaking from earphones, etc., not the noise from the train operation. It is a train, not a church.

Sure, but why have a car loud by 'default' designated as a quiet car. Designating any car in the last half of the train would be just as effective. Those who want to sit in the 'quiet car' will find it no matter the location.

Here's another explanation. Since the quiet cars are only used during rush hour, it is easy to close off those cars on non-rush hour trains without having to remove the signage. I

Metra has decided to expand the quiet car program to all lines starting June 6th.

I called this from the beginning, the head and rear car will no longer be the designated cars:

The biggest change as the program expands will be the location of the Quiet Cars on the trains. During the test, the first and last cars of rush hour trains were designated as the Quiet Cars. However, we learned during the test that those cars can be noisy due to their proximity to the train’s bells and horns.

The Quiet Cars will now be designated as the second car from the locomotive and the second car from the other end of the train on all rush hour trains with six or more cars...

http://metrarail.com/metra/en/home/util ... june6.html

"Quiet" cars mentioned in National Review.

OK it's Amtrak, not Metra. But I'm wondering how a similar incident would play in Chicago.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/26 ... mark-steyn

Passenger wrote:"Quiet" cars mentioned in National Review.

OK it's Amtrak, not Metra. But I'm wondering how a similar incident would play in Chicago.

It certainly would not have lasted 16 hours. Hopefully she would have been put off at the next station or moved to a non-quiet car if it would have happened on a Metra train (and an enforceable rule was in place). The situation does raise a question:

Are the Metra quiet cars designated as a courtesy or is there some sort of legal requirement attached to the designation?

If the designation merely a way of alerting people to be more courteous to other passengers in those cars than in other cars with no additional rules regulating noise/cell phone use in those cars then there would be no legal protection for riders in a "quiet" car beyond the rules that apply to all cars. And no legal remedy. But if there is an actual rule that requires passengers in the quiet car to be quiet there would be grounds for enforcing such a rule with more than the polite suggestion that the passenger pipe down or move to another car.

justalurker66 wrote:Are the Metra quiet cars designated as a courtesy or is there some sort of legal requirement attached to the designation?

Per Metra: "The rules are simple: No cell phone calls. If passengers must answer their phones, they should make it brief or move to the vestibule or another car. Conversations are discouraged; if they must be held they should be short and in subdued voices. All electronic devices must be muted, and headphones should not be loud enough for anyone else to hear. As with the pilot program, Metra expects Quiet Cars to be largely enforced by peer pressure and conductor intervention when necessary."

So no, it's not exactly a law endorsed by Springfield, and other passengers would have no legal remedy to fall back on should they take matters into their own hands. But since the rule is enforceable by conductors and trainmen, they don't have to. If conductor intervention is needed, they'll start with reminding the violators of the quiet car designation and ask them to move to another car. Failing that, they have the power to remove them from the train with police assistance should they become unruly and obnoxious like our lovely young woman in the article. Speaking of which, conductors on UP/W have a pretty short fuse when it comes to this kind of behavior, and won't hesitate to call the cops for a rendezvous at the next station to escort the loudmouths, and rude, drunken rowdies off the train...