Not a Typical Tuesday

Image courtesy Chicago Tribune, unedited video screencapture

Every morning I make the decision of taking either the brown or red line. But today, it was neither. At 9:30 this morning, none of my fellow Fullerton commuters were going anywhere for a while.

There’s a pattern when uncertainty strikes: confusion, anxiety, panic, frustration.
Just because I am a Red Crosser doesn’t mean I am always calm and collected (in fact, I am certain I would have been more at ease had I carried a Red Cross Safety Tube).

In attempt to ease confusion, straining my ears to listen to both the muffled announcements from the CTA and surrounding crowds got me nowhere. I turned to the classic default of a public relations person: Twitter. Nothing yet- so I knew it was a fresh incident. Second public relations default: ears. A girl next to me said her friend had heard of a derailment. But that was it. Checking Twitter again, there it was- “Brown line derailed. Major CTA delays going south.”

Slowly, the information poured in. Upon learning the accident was just a few hundred feet north of us, crowds became eager to find a way to get where they were going.

A strange thing happens when disasters strike. We’ve seen it with Haiti and Japan, but not everyone gets to witness the intimate local bonds when everyday disasters happen.

Though I wasn’t directly on the scene of this disaster as Red Cross personnel, I still felt the energy of our mission to respond. After spending 30 minutes waiting on one of the many motionless trains affected by the delay, I (like any true city-paced Chicagoan) was getting restless. As CTA passengers, we all had the same goal: just get where we wanted to go. But how we did it was a bit remarkable. Deferring to a Red Cross commuter safety tip -- Learn alternate routes and ways to get where you need to go -- I followed suit. All in the same situation, people began to pile with strangers into cabs to help each other reach their destinations efficiently. I was one of them.

Uncertainty is part of the culture in working in the disaster response field, but the comfort in that is the part that proceeds the “un-”. There will always be help. There will always be a way.

“We’re always there.”

Be on Track to a Safer Commute.

2011 has only just begun, but it is already looking like a great year for many residents of Chicago with the arrival of the CTA’s highly anticipated ‘Train Tracker.’ The Chicago Transit Authority and Mayor Richard Daley made an official announcement Saturday, January 8 that the new application was now available for use. With Chicago’s brutal winter season just beginning, it seems like the announcement of the city’s new ‘Train Tracker’ couldn’t have arrived at a more appropriate time. The new technology covers all eight of Chicago’s L-train lines and 144 train stations. Although this new tool is still in its early stages of development, the application is already available from both residents’ computers and smart-phones.

With Chicago’s L-train system being the third busiest system in the United States with over 650,000 riders each weekday, it is crucial that commuters be prepared for CTA emergencies. This past June, a highly reported track fire ignited on the Red Line just north of the Chicago platform. It left 19 injured and created a standstill with the north and southbound red line trains for approximately three hours. Although CTA mishaps of this size aren’t extremely common, emergencies of all sorts do happen no matter how much the city tries to avoid them. Even today, Monday, January 10, smoke was reported between the Lake and Grand stations of the Red Line. Although it was a false alarm, the report resulted in firefighters investigating the scene and the trains to be rerouted on the elevated tracks for a short period of time.

In order to be as prepared as possible for potential emergencies while commuting, the American Red Cross has teamed up with U.S. Department of Transportation to create helpful information for those who may find themselves in a commuter emergency.

On a Train
• If the train stops, follow the operator’s instructions quickly and calmly.
• In an extreme emergency when you must evacuate the train without the operator’s assistance, follow posted emergency procedures.

On a Station Platform
• Familiarize yourself with all the exits at the stations that you use in case you ever have to take a different exit.
• Listen for announcements and follow instructions quickly and calmly.

The American Red Cross also suggests that commuters purchase a Safety Tube, which can be found on our website. This portable emergency safety tube provides commuters with a water pouch, an individually wrapped mask, a whistle, and a foil wrapped-six-hour light stick.

For more information on commuter safety, please visit our Safety Tips page on chicagoredcross.org.

Photo credit to Christopher & AmyCrate on Flickr