Last Run For Old Metra Electric District Highliners
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's a big day for riders of Metra's Electric District.
The commuter rail agency Friday retires the last of the bi-level Highliners built without toilets in the early 1970s for the Illinois Central R.R., which then operated the Electric District. No one believed toilets to be needed at the time at the time they were built. In fact, historians said at the time that none of the cars used by the IC since it electrified its suburban service in 1926, and possibly before, had ever had a lavatory.
The Highliners were built to last 30 years, and had they been retired on time, they would not have become embroiled in controversy. The Electric District was known instead for its on-time performance.
But, following an accident in 2003 that required a bridge to be rebuilt, and diverted Electric District riders to the nearby Rock Island District, the aging Highliners gained notoriety, as riders began to complain that the lack of toilets was racist. Metra fiercely denied the accusation, but when new Electric District cars were ordered, agency officials made sure that half would have lavatories.
Twenty-six of the replacement cars were delivered in 2006. State and Metra financial difficulties delayed the replacement of the rest of the first-generation Highliners until now.