Login
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • sign up today!

Metra

Metra to let commuters customize alerts, avoid blizzard of emails

It’s May, but Metra is already worrying about winter

As warmer weather fitfully returns to Chicago, Metra is trying to address what went wrong with the commuter rail agency this past winter.

The combination of ice-jammed doors of old train cars, a lack of heating equipment on some rail-switching equipment, and the severe cold and ice of a particularly harsh winter led to last-minute cancellations, thousands of delays and the ire of many customers.

Categories: 

Metra names veteran state commander as police chief

Transit agencies get bump in federal funding

Chicago-area transit agencies will get millions more in federal money this year than first budgeted after the Regional Transportation Authority Board on Wednesday approved federal cash transfers at an unusually quiet board meeting.

Together, local transit systems will receive $9.7 million more than anticipated in the 2014 budget. The Chicago Transit Authority's funding will enjoy an increase of $5.6 million. Metra’s increase will be $3.3 million, while Pace Suburban Bus Service’s will grow by $800,000.

House votes to make secret government severance deals public

Metra chair: Keep public log of politicians, others pushing hires

Metra management will get pay raises

Non-union Metra employees, including managers, directors, and other senior staff members, will enjoy raises this year, Metra CEO Don Orseno announced Thursday at a City Club of Chicago speech.

About 450 employees will split $2.4 million, which comes to an average 8 percent pay hike per employee. Orseno said that the raises, which total 0.3 percent of Metra’s annual operating budget, are needed to keep high-quality staff in positions that often have much larger paychecks in the private sector.

Categories: 

Transit Task Force co-chair: RTA is out of chances

The Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force issued its final recommendations Monday, including a plan to scotch the Regional Transportation Authority and consolidate the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace Suburban Bus Service into one “superagency.”

The recommendations will now go for consideration to Gov. Pat Quinn, who convened the panel, and the General Assembly. Task force members said that they were optimistic that the state Legislature, which created the RTA in the early 1970s, would adopt at least some of their recommendations.

Ethics, consolidation not only issues on Transit Task Force’s agenda

The Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force will release its final recommendations Monday for the Chicago-area transit system. The report is expected to address concerns beyond charges of Metra patronage hiring, which spurred Gov. Pat Quinn to convene the panel last summer, and look at issues like contracting for which the transit agencies often fail to coordinate their efforts.

Metra employees to receive terrorist-recognition training

“Excessive yawning,” “repetitive touching of face,” “rubbing or wringing of hands” could be the normal responses of a tired commuter – or in rare instances, the behavior of a potential terrorist.

Categories: 

Pages