Metra conductors bar riders who ignore gates, lights
(The following appeared on the Chicago Sun-Times website on August 30, 2010.)
CHICAGO As a Union Pacific conductor on Metra commuter trains, Gordon F. Bowe has seen too many people rushing around closed safety gates to get to their trains.
He has also known people to crawl under a parked train to get to the train doors.
Bowe said he and other conductors on Metra's Union Pacific North, Northwest and West lines won't stand for it -- they won't let a passenger board if he has trespassed on tracks or ignored flashing bells, lights and gates.
Bowe said he has been stopping people from boarding trains for breaking safety rules for years. But in the past year, he and other conductors also have been handing out bright-orange cards from Illinois Operation Lifesaver, spelling out exactly what law the passengers broke, to give them a little something to think about while they wait for the next train.
Commuters might not realize that, when the gates are down, even if the train they want to board is parked, there could be another one coming from the opposite direction, or that a train that's already stopped might start rolling.
The card reads: "Your actions could have just cost you a fine of $250 or even worse, your life. When the bells and lights are flashing. It is illegal to cross the tracks . . ."
Bowe is on four trains a day, five days a week. He figures he hands out five or 10 cards a week.
Many people don't react well to getting the cards -- and being barred from boarding the train. Still, Bowe said, "Quite a few will say, 'Tell the engineer that I apologize.' "
He said the cards have gotten more popular among conductors.
They're also popular among other passengers, who sometimes see the same people running around lowered gates again and again.
"I've heard people clap" when someone is denied boarding, said Chip Pew, Operation Lifesaver safety coordinator for the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Bowe said men are a little bit more likely than women to rush the gates.
Between 2005 and 2009, there were 47 fatalities at public railroad crossings in northeastern Illinois, according to Operation Lifesaver. Chicago had the most, with six deaths, followed by Berwyn with four and Des Plaines, Elgin and Riverside with three each.
