Blue Line Service Getting Back To Normal After Debris Blocked Trains
Updated 09/30/14 - 1:08 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Normal service has resumed on the Blue Line, after nearly nine hours of significant delays, due to a pile of wet concrete that fell on the tracks on the Near West Side early Tuesday.
CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, around 4 a.m., wet concrete spilled on the Blue Line inbound tracks just below the Halsted Street bridge over the Eisenhower Expressway. While Illinois Department of Transportation crews working on the Jane Byrne Interchange reconstruction project were building a retention wall along the Eisenhower, some of the wet concrete fell onto the Blue Line tracks.
With debris blocking the inbound track, Blue Line trains were able to use only one track between Racine and LaSalle for the rest of the morning. The track was cleared by about 1 p.m., when normal service resumed, though with residual delays as trains began using both tracks again.
Maude Williams said ended up running about 40 minutes late after taking a Blue Line train from the Loop to UIC-Halsted, but she was taking it in stride.
"I can live with it. It's not a big issue. Things happen," she said.
Anastasia Mendosa was lucky enough to catch a Blue Line train as soon as she arrived at the Clinton stop.
Michelle Bowie was not as lucky, having to wait nearly 20 minutes to get a train; then the bus she wanted to catch at the UIC-Halsted station left without her.