Man Killed by Red Line; Passengers in the Dark
By Andrew Peerless in News on Jul 22, 2005 2:24PM
Chicagoist tries not to be too jaded by the rigors of urban life, but - after several years of living in the city - we're not exactly surprised when we hear about the occasional CTA passenger that wanders too close to the platform edge and ends up becoming a major traffic delay. It's sad and it sucks, but it happens.
That said, this is weird: Around 11:30 last night, a Red Line operator noticed a body on the tracks in the environs of 1400 North Clybourn - which, as you el-savvy readers well know, means the person met their demise after somehow accessing underground areas of our transit system. What's even stranger is that, by the time the operator alerted authorities, the body "had possibly been run over by another train." Ick.
To investigate the area and remove the body from the tracks, CTA officials had to shut power to the entire Red Line - which left passengers aboard the halted train waiting and waiting and waiting in total darkness. CTA folks just kinda never provided any updates to the stranded folk, all of whom were undoubtedly burdened with thoughts of yesterday's London transit bombings. People were apparently freaking both quietly and loudly as firemen with flashlights scurried by, eventually ordering a full evacuation through one of those secret hatches that lets out onto the sidewalk. Chicagoist is getting claustrophobic just thinking about this...
And we're also really surprised. The day after the first round of London transit bombings, our Red Line operator regaled us with what seemed like a ten-minute monologue on maintaining the safety of ourselves and our fellow passengers. It was a bit long and bit drawn out, but at least we felt like someone cared. We wonder why the same courtesy wasn't extended to passengers last night...
Either way, there's no word yet on who the dead man was or what he may have been doing down there in the forbidden depths. Chicagoist will now commence trying not to think bad thoughts...