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Metra question

Posted by ndbprr

on Thu, Jun 21 2007 4:19 PM

I've begun to notice on the trains running on the CRIP to Joliet that every other car is a control car. That means in off hours they Metra cut multiples of two cars off and leave them at Lasalle St. station instead of dragging them both ways empty. Since the normal off hour train is five cars in these teime periods what purpose do control cars being #1 and 3 possibly serve? Isn't this a waste of resources?

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Posted by EJE818

on Mon, Jun 25 2007 10:12 AM

I have noticed that myself lately on Rock Island. The 8200 cab cars have been demoted so they no longer lead eastbound trains. I have noticed a few times that they have put more then one 8500 on a train. I also wonder why they do this. It is possible Metra might have too many cab cars on Rock Island, so they use them as regular passenger cars.

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