Metra derailment means major delays for north suburban commuters

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Updated: January 20, 2012 9:52AM

Commuters on Metra’s Union Pacific/North Line have been beset by delays of, in some cases, more than an hour and a half Friday morning because of a derailment in the Metra yard in Waukegan.

According to Metra service advisories, trains on the UP/North Line have been delayed or canceled much of the morning.

At 5:56 a.m., a Metra service advisory said because of an equipment derailment in the Waukegan Yard, inbound and outbound trains would be operating behind schedule.

Some of the affected trains included:

— Train No. 332, scheduled to depart Highland Park at 9:03 a.m. and arrive Chicago at 9:56 a.m., which had not departed as of 9:17 a.m. The expected duration of this delay in departure was expected to be 30 to 40 minutes.

— Train No. 309, scheduled to arrive Kenosha at 8:20 a.m., which had been held at Highland Park for inbound trains to clear going to Chicago, was on the move as of 9:17 a.m. and operating approximately 100 minutes late.

— Train No. 334, scheduled to depart Kenosha at 8:49 a.m. and arrive Chicago at 10:30 a.m., had not departed as of 8:57 a.m. The expected duration of the delay in departure was 70 to 100 minutes.

— Train No. 322, scheduled to depart Waukegan at 7:20 a.m. and arrive Chicago at 8:35 a.m., was operating approximately 47 to 50 minutes behind schedule as of 8:57 a.m.

— Train No. 314, scheduled to arrive Chicago at 8:02 a.m., was operating 60 to 65 minutes behind schedule due to earlier delays, as of 8:37 a.m. This train was dropping passengers not going to Chicago at Davis Street and then going express to Clybourn.

Metra spokespersons were not immediately avaialable for comment.