The transit agency will look into diesel soot levels.
Metra has hired an independent firm to check out the air quality on its trains and at Ogilvie Transportation Center.
That comes after a report showing diesel soot levels on some trains are extremely high.
Metra at this point is just conducting its own tests to confirm what the Chicago Tribune found: that passengers were inhaling high levels of diesel soot, particulates in the air from diesel engines, at certain points along train routes.
Also, the pollution levels were bad in the Ogilvie train station where trains may sit idling for hours.
Metra’s investigation comes after U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called on the Environmental Protection Agency to look into the pollution levels. Durbin told reporters Metra recently received grant money that would cut down on the amount of idle time.
Diesel soot can aggravate asthma and has been traced to cancer.
Originally reported by Chicago Public Radio. Read the original article here.
Let’s keep the perspective that there is more to do, rather than that METRA has ignored the problem. When I first used Union Station, arriving passengers had to walk past the locomotive(s) and the station’s ventilation system did much less to restrict the entry of fumes into the station. Now locomotives are always at the outbound end of trains and the station has a higher air pressure than the outside environment, so there is usually an outward flow of air when the doors are open. The engines are throttled down to idle when practical with the cars plugged into the stations electrical system. This is done primarily by AMTRAK. When the cars are supplied electricity by the locomotive, they are kept at a low throttle setting until just before departure. BNSF Aurora district passengers are familiar with the sequence that the conductor waves the engineer of, steps on the train and shuts the doors. The engineer throttles down and the lights go out. When the engine comes up again, the train begins moving before the lights come on again.