The train I was on this morning lurched to a stop just before 9 a.m., almost throwing a few folks standing in my car to the floor. Shortly afterward, a stunned-sounding conductor announced, "We'll be standing here for a moment. Someone fell on the tracks in front of the train." It was rush hour and people were in a hurry so someone on our car pried a door open and most folks followed him out, but I stayed on the car with a few other people, figuring we'd start pulling forward soon. About ten minutes later all the doors opened and we were told to exit, walking along the narrow pathway next to the train until we met a gate that a CTA employee held open for us.
I've been on many trains who were stopped for a "sick passenger" and anyone who rides the CTA on a regular basis knows that's usually code for either someone acting erratically, or for an accident on the tracks. But this was the first time I've ever heard an employee just say that someone fell on the tracks.
I walked the remaining 10 blocks from that stop to my office, hoping the person involved was O.K., while hearing the compounding wail of multiple sirens make their way towards the station as I walked along.
I haven't been able to shake the sound of that conductor's voice all day.
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