Metra To Test Onboard Security Cameras On Metra Electric District
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Security cameras are standard equipment aboard CTA trains and buses. Now, Metra is taking a first step to equip its fleet.
Metra is starting small with a one-car, 11-camera test on its Electric District. The cars are the newest in Metra's fleet, and the commuter rail agency said Tuesday that the newly-delivered order is pre-wired for the technology.
Metra wants to get a better handle on the functionality and range of the cameras, as well as placement.
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security grant money is paying for the test, and if all goes as expected, Metra hopes to ask DHS to fund further installations beginning in 2017, eventually extending to its entire 1,028-car fleet.
Until now, cameras on Metra trains have been limited to the front of locomotives, and have been outward facing, where they are primarily useful in the event of accidents and to spot trespassers on railroad rights-of-way. The focus of the on-board cameras Metra will test is what happens inside the bilevel passenger cars.
The CTA firmly believes on-board cameras are a deterrent to crime. Its entire fleet of 'L' cars and buses has been equipped with on-board security cameras for several years.
Metra continues to install cameras in the engineer's compartment aboard its locomotives and aboard its cab cars, which lead trains inbound, under a separate program. That is expected to be completed later this year.
