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A Metra track inspector and two mechanics have been paid a total of $1.2 million in overtime in the past five years. That payout, one lawmaker tells 2 Investigator Brad Edward, is out of control. “There’s excessive overtime being paid,” says State Rep. David Olsen (R-Downers Grove). “That creates mistrust from taxpayers.” In all, Metra’s overtime costs soared above $119 million from 2013 to 2017, according to interviews and records. 2 Investigators counted 351 employees who earned at least $100,000 in that span. Topping the list is a mechanic who earned more than $366,000 in overtime. “I think that …...

Metra union members in line for 20 percent pay hikes over 6 years By Richard Wronski, Chicago Tribune reporter 6:03 p.m. CDT, November 2, 2013 Members of one of Metra's biggest labor unions could get raises worth more than 20 percent over the next six years and a $3,000 "signing bonus", according to a proposed contract negotiated between the commuter rail agency and the union. The proposed pact, awaiting approval from about 337 clerical workers and ticket agents belonging to the Transportation Communications Union, was announced last week and comes as Metra continues to negotiate with 12 other unions, including...

A former California transit executive tapped to clean up Chicago’s scandal-tarnished Metra commuter rail agency said Wednesday he was pushed out barely two years into the job for doing exactly that and resisting pressure from some of Illinois’ most powerful politicians. Alex Clifford was allowed to speak publicly for the first time Wednesday about his lucrative buyout, which critics have called hush money and a waste of taxpayer funds. Clifford alleged that House Speaker Michael Madigan pushed Metra staff for a pay raise for a political pal and that Madigan and another politician also sought patronage hires. Clifford also described...

(CBS) — It was stunning for those who watched Thursday night as federal agents investigated a possible nuclear threat at Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center. CBS 2′s photojournalist Lana Hinshaw-Klann happened to be at the scene and used a cell-phone camera to record agents in action. Reporter Dave Savini looks into what agents were looking for and what they found. Sources say the agents were members of the elite TSA VIPR team on the 5:04pm Union Pacific West line. They were carrying hand-held nuclear-detection devices that picked up a reading.

(CBS) — It was stunning for those who watched Thursday night as federal agents investigated a possible nuclear threat at Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center. CBS 2′s photojournalist Lana Hinshaw-Klann happened to be at the scene and used a cell-phone camera to record agents in action. Reporter Dave Savini looks into what agents were looking for and what they found. Sources say the agents were members of the elite TSA VIPR team on the 5:04pm Union Pacific West line. They were carrying hand-held nuclear-detection devices that picked up a reading.

Federal agents stormed at train at Chicago’s Ogilvie Transportation Center to investigate a possible nuclear triggered by a passenger who had taken a nuclear stress test early in the day. CBS 2′s photojournalist Lana Hinshaw-Klann was at the scene and used a cell-phone camera to record agents in action, the news channel reported. The agents on the 5:04pm Union Pacific West line were reportedly members of the TSA VIPR team and were carrying hand-held nuclear-detection devices that picked up a reading.

An influential alderman warned Metra’s executive director on Thursday that “people are going to get hurt” if the commuter rail agency fails to bolster minority participation on a $133-million South Side railroad bridge known as the “Englewood Flyover.” Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), chairman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, did not explain who he believed would “get hurt” or who the perpetrators might be. But, he was clearly referring to civil disobedience or maybe even violence at the construction site. “I’m trying to help you help yourself. When I say that, problems could arise. When you look at a community...

A miscommunication with a deaf person led police to erroneously believe a bomb threat was being made on a Metra train Monday night, leading to an emergency response, authorities said. Riverside police said this morning a Metra conductor flagged down a police officer at 8:12 p.m. and reported that a passenger had passed him a handwritten note saying there might have been a bomb on the train.

Widow of ex-Metra chair entitled to $80,000-a-year pensionOctober 21, 2010 5:44 PM The late executive director of Metra would have gotten a sweet pension, $170,000 a year, had he retired from the commuter rail line and not committed suicide, officials disclosed today. As such, Phil Pagano's widow will receive an $80,000-a-year survivor benefit based on her spouse's pension for his years of running the commuter rail line, officials said. Pagano's pension was based on his years of service and annual pay, and did not result from so-called "pension spiking," as has been shown to be the case at many state...

Embattled Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano, under investigation by his own agency for financial issues, threw himself in front of a Metra train this morning and was killed, sources said. It happened in an unincorporated area near Crystal Lake just after 8 a.m.

In an ominous sign of a still-spreading political scandal, federal officials are probing potential misuse of U.S. funds by exiled Metra chief Phil Pagano. In a series of developments, U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who has helped Metra obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants in recent years, called on the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation to "investigate whether any federal funds were misused or spent in any unauthorized way." Mr. Durbin's action came after the Federal Transit Administration — the USDOT unit that actually makes grants to transit operators — put Metra on restricted...

Posted: Saturday, 30 January 2010 9:05AM Woman sues Metra after toilet explodes on train CHICAGO (STMW) -- A woman is suing Metra claiming the contents of a toilet "exploded" and splattered her as she rode a Joliet-bound train. Julianna Mandernach filed the suit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp. and Metra, claiming the Jan. 29, 2009, incident left her with injuries of a “personal and pecuniary nature.” Mandernach boarded a Metra train on the Chicago-to-Joliet/Rock Island line as a passenger. She used a toilet on the train, and upon flushing, the contents...

A woman left her baby on a Metra train Tuesday but immediately called police when she realized her mistake, allowing officers to reunite mother and child soon afterwards. The woman stepped off a Union Pacific North Line train at 6:11 p.m. in North Chicago and quickly realized she had left her baby on the train in a stroller, said Judy Pardonnet, a spokeswoman for Metra. "She just said she forgot to take the stroller off the train," Pardonnet said. She called North Chicago police and the train was stopped a few minutes later, she said. North Chicago police called Waukegan...

Driver Of Vehicle In Police Custody (CBS) RIVERSIDE -- A fiery crash stopped traffic on a Metra line Wednesday evening after a police pursuit involving a drug investigation. CBS 2’s Rob Johnson reports the suspect who managed to escape the SUV before it burst into flames has been captured. The driver of the SUV that overturned on the Metra tracks in west suburban Riverside, causing long train delays during the Wednesday evening rush, was in police custody Wednesday night awaiting charges. Metra trains on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Line between Aurora and Chicago's Union Station were completely stopped just...

November 23, 2005 (Elmwood Park, IL) - A Metra train has struck more than a dozen vehicles at a crossing in northwest suburban Elmwood Park. It happened around 4:45 p.m. on Grand near Harlem. It was Metra's North Central train number 107 running express from Chicago's Union Station.t least 15 ambulances have been called to the scene and 13 people have been transported to area hospitals. It is unclear if anyone on board the train was injured but about a dozen vehicles are involved in the crash. This is a long crossing at Grand and Harlem.not clear why so many...

Between forkfuls of angel-hair pasta, Metra engineer Mike Smith calmly told his story Monday, detail by agonizing detail, of the ill-fated Rock Island line train that jumped the tracks under his control. At Nick and Tony's restaurant downtown, Smith talked to reporters for the first time, saying he was sorry that his passengers -- "the most precious cargo" -- suffered and died in the horrific crash. But last month's derailment that killed two women and injured dozens of others was not his fault, he said. "I can say I'm sorry even though I had nothing to do with it," said...