By Shannon Halligan, WGN 9; February 14, 2019
CHICAGO — Metra’s passenger cars are the oldest in the nation, and after 10 years without a capital funding bill, officials with the transit agency are hopeful this will be the year they get back up to speed.
Seven of 11 train lines run through the junction at Metra’s Western station on a daily basis. Workers there align switches so trains can make their way through, and head over Western Avenue on one of Metra’s 823 bridges. Half of those bridges are more than 100 years old, and the train cars aren’t much younger. Some trains are being re-serviced from the 1950s.