Metra Gates Down As Salt Mixes With Melting Snow, Rain

CHICAGO, IL - Metra gates have been down intermittently throughout the rail service's lines in Chicagoland on Thursday. Officials have said this is a result of the amount of salt placed on the streets in recent days and coupling that with the amount of water that came from the rain and melting snow. Metra spokesperson Meg Reile said that gates in certain spots have begun malfunctioning as a "fail safe."

"If the circuit that controls the signal system is disrupted, the fail safe is implemented," Reile said, noting that the problem is common in cases in which an extended freeze is followed by a brief period of warmer than usual weather.

"Salt water and electricity don't mix," she said. "With all that salt on the roads combining with everything being wet today, that affects our electrical wires."

The problem was going on for hours during the late morning and early afternoon by affecting traffic in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood, where Metra's Rock Island line has several stops and even more gate crossings. 19th Ward Ald. Matt O'Shea said it took him about 20 minutes to get from 95th and Wood to his office near 104th and Western, a trip that would normally not take more than a couple of minutes, in the early afternoon.

"We've been getting a lot of calls over the last couple of hours," O'Shea said. "In a number of places there are gate malfunctions."

O'Shea said his office has fielded calls from residents whose travel has been affected near the tracks at 99th Street, 96th Street and 95th Street, where "hundreds of cars pass through every day."

Metra did not have a list of the gates that have been affected, but Reile said crews have been out all day responding to gate issues as they come up.

"Beverly isn't the only place where people are experiencing problems," she said. "This is system wide."