November 1, 2018

How do you spend your morning rail commute?  Checking e-mail, texting friends for lunch, glancing through the paper, finishing that staff memo, or maybe just watching the scenery go by? 

One thing you probably don’t do is think about all the people it takes to make your commute possible.   Your train departs on time, the cars are clean and in good repair, you arrive safely at your destination.  This sort of smooth transit experience only happens through the combined efforts of a dedicated team of professionals across a range of skills and trades.

Throughout the month of November, we’ll take a peek behind the scenes at one of nation’s largest commuter rail systems, Chicago’s Metra.  Specifically, we’ll highlight stories of some of the women who keep Metra trains running -- seven days a week, over 1,100 miles of track, on 11 different lines serving 242 stations and 78.6 million riders a year.  And they accomplish it all with an on-time performance rate of over 96 percent.

These ladies have pluck!  From locomotive engineers to dispatchers and analysts, to electricians, welders, and coach washers, they tell stories of hard work, determination, and self-discovery.  Just as these women developed their unique talents in the world of commuter rail, we hope their stories will inspire you to pursue your dream.