I realize the management of Metra, our commuter rail system, has much on their minds these days. That said, I have another concern which I brought to their attention.

Several times over the past few weeks, the Metra/Union Pacific Northwest Line train I typically take in the morning (#606) has been running early by 2-3 minutes every day. It’s happened at least once each week for the past month, and this week it’s already happened twice.

“What’s the big deal?” you may say. Here’s the thing– two things, really:

(1) This train is supposed to be in Arlington Heights at 6:10 am. Now, I like to consider myself a master of timing, and I manage my time as efficiently as possible. This does not mean I am constantly in a rush: it means I plan accordingly so that I am not late or overly early. If a train is supposed to be at the station at 6:10, I will plan to arrive 4-5 minutes early so that I can safely board the train without breaking a sweat. Also, I have to cross the tracks to access the train, which means that once the gates are down, I’ve missed the train even if it’s still two blocks away and just about to pull into the station.

The issue is that if the train is running early, as the Twitter clip above shows (read the lower entry first), it could be at the station at 6:05 am, I can’t board, and then I have to wait about 30 minutes for the next train. That’s a level of aggravation I don’t need before sunrise. (In the case above, I didn’t miss it.)

If I’m late because of my own lollygagging, dilly-dallying, or lingering, that’s my own fault, and I won’t do something stupid to make up the time. “Stupid” in this case meaning something that will wind up with my being arrested, injured, or worse. I’ll wait for the next train.

(2) Some of my fellow commuters are not above taking steps in the aforementioned “stupid” category. As I’ve mentioned here before, it seems some of these people don’t have their higher brain functions in gear at that hour, and frankly I am very concerned that someone is going to be walking to the train, see the gates go down at 6:05, and run across the tracks to catch the train that, after all, isn’t supposed to be there for another 5 minutes. And I am going to have to witness something very very bad first thing in the morning.

I wrote to Metra to express my concerns, and I received this response:

Metra has a GPS tracking system for our trains and that system allows us to
monitor performance for all trains on our system. A review of operational
records for Train No. 606 for the month of September indicates that this
train departs on time from the Arlington Heights Station. As information,
the timeframes established within the timetables are the designated train
departure times at the stations. Therefore, 6:10 a.m. is the respective
departure time for Train No. 606 from Arlington Heights.

Okay, so we’ve established that (a) the times in the timetables are departure times: I get that; and (b) Metra didn’t see a problem in September.

I know I’m not imagining the arrival/departure time changes, and when this happened yesterday, one of my fellow commuters looked at his phone and then asked me, after we sat down, what time I had. I showed him my phone, which said 6:07. The time on our phones matched (two different carriers). The train left Arlington Heights at 6:08.

Metra doesn’t see a problem, but I am still concerned. Hence this blog posting: to raise awareness. It seems like a little annoyance, but I’m hoping someone looks into this.