Look Both Ways

Don't step in front of the train, even if you're in a hurry!

About 5 minutes into my train ride home the other day, the train made an unscheduled stop in the middle of an intersection. And then we waited. And waited. After about 15 minutes, the conductor made an announcement that seemed ominous. In a voice that was obviously upset, he said, slowly, “We will be here … for a while.” Ugg. What does that mean? This doesn’t sound good.

A little while later, the conductor made another announcement, saying we’d be there for at least another 45 minutes. Seriously?! I knew I should have taken the earlier train! He never told us why we were stopped, but it soon became obvious. There were police, ambulance, and firefighter vehicles and personnel all around the train. I could only see a small section of street from my window, but police began arriving to direct cars around the train (which, as I’ve said, was right in the middle of an intersection). It seemed that most of the action was behind me, where the train came from.

I tried to read the paper to help pass the time, but watching the cars and police outside the window was more interesting. After about 45 minutes, there was another announcement. We were going to switch to another train, and so could we all slowly make our way to the front car. Since I was already in the front car, I just made my way downstairs. In about another 5 minutes, a different Coaster train pulled up. We slowly piled out of one car (a BIG step down) and up onto the next train. I went right upstairs and had a good view of the rest of the passengers crossing the tracks to get onto the new train. In about another 10 minutes, we were on our way. Still with no explanation about the delay.

The news the next day revealed that a woman had been hit by the train, and had survived! She was with her brother and they waited for the Trolley to pass, but didn’t notice the Coaster coming on the next set of tracks. It hit her at the legs. On the Coaster a few days later, I overhead one of the engineers say that the woman told him they took a short-cut because they were trying to get home early. So much for that! He also said that this was the first time he’s been on a train that hit someone and the person survived. Two crazy things about that comment: he’s been on a train that hit someone before, and that the rest of the people who were hit had died.

So my typical long day was even longer, but at least I made it home safely!

Train Delays: Still Better than Traffic

The train schedule, which, barring a disaster, is pretty accurate.

Long delays on the train are rare, but they do happen. And when they do, after getting over how totally annoyed I am, It actually makes me appreciate the train more for getting me to and from work, on time, almost every time I ride. The four major delays that occurred while I was riding were all the result of a major event that directly affected the rail line: a fire, a "flood," an earthquake, and a train crash.

The fire happened in the afternoon, at about the middle of the train route. I was excited because I was able to leave work early that day and catch the earlier train. That proved to be a moot point, since we sat at the station for about an hour waiting for the fire to be put out. This meant that two trains were now combined into one, and I didn't get home any earlier.

The flood was the result of heavy rains that lasted for more than a week. Since the train rides through a pretty extensive wetlands area, rising water can occasionally be a problem. This time was also on the train ride home, and we actually made it to the second station. There, we waited for about an hour while a crew came in to check the tracks. I was with my friend and co-worker Shirley, so at least I had company. And they let us leave the train, so Shirley went to a near-by deli and bought us a six-pack of beer. We shared with a few others around us, and generally enjoyed ourselves, even though Shirley had to cancel a dinner date.

The earthquake, although not large, was apparently pretty jarring. None of us on the train would know, though, because we didn't feel it. It happened about 5 minutes into our ride home. We knew it happened because people's cell phones started ringing and the news quickly spread. We again made it to the second station, and waited there while they checked the tracks. This took about 30 minutes.

The train crash was more dramatic, as it involved riders actually getting off the train and being shuttled on buses. After getting on the train one morning, an announcement was made that we would go as far as Sorrento Valley (about 30 minutes into the 1-hour total ride) and be shuttled to the last two stops by bus. We weren't told the reason at the time (maybe they said "cars on the tracks"), but we later learned that a freight train (no passengers) had jackknifed off the tracks the night before in an area that only has one set of tracks. Many people, upon hearing this, got off the train, presumably to drive or maybe just ditch work. I stayed, since I didn't want to deal with traffic and then parking downtown. The ride was typical except that the train was pretty empty, since many people made other arrangements. At the Sorrento Valley station, we were all herded off the train and into about 10 waiting buses, which then got onto the freeway (into morning traffic) and drove us to the last two stops. This made me about 30 minutes late, but it actually wasn't too bad. The train was back to normal for the commute home, and the derailed cars could be seen on the side of the tracks for the next week or so.

Despite these four pretty serious delays, the train has been good to me. I don't have to deal with car traffic every day, two times per day, and I get to relax and read or sleep to and from work. That's a pretty good trade-off, I'd say.