CHICAGO — Falling concrete led to the shutdown of three tracks at Chicago Union Station on Wednesday, interfering with some morning commuter operations. Emergency repairs had two of the tracks reopened in time for the afternoon commute.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports tracks 2, 4, and 6 on the south concourse were closed in the morning because of the problem, leading to delays for some trains on Metra's BNSF, SouthWest Service, and Heritage Corridor lines. Repairs were complete by 4 p.m. for the afternoon commute.
News of the incident led U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) a vocal critic of recent Amtrak problems at Union Station [see “Rail subcommittee chairman ‘extremely disappointed’ with Amtrak response on Union Station Incident,” Trains News Wire, April 5, 2019], to call the situation “unacceptable,” according to CBS-2 News in Chicago.
“Amtrak owns and operates Union Station,” Lipinski said, according to the station. “They need to make sure there are no problems that interfere with rail traffic at Union Station.”