Kicked Off the Train...

Did I really get kicked off the train? Yes, but not in the way you are thinking. About 1,000 people were booted off trains last night at 900 South where we had to wait for another train to haul us to Sandy.

There is never a dull moment when it comes to riding TRAX each day. As mentioned in previous blogs, I usually can always find something to blog about. Last night is no exception. The day actually started off rough when UTA had some kind of problem with the TRAX line around 2100 South. Because of that, all the trains had to share the southbound line, which was cause for delays. I knew this before getting on the train, but still decided to brave the situation. I made it to work only 30 minutes late.

The commute home was a different story. All went well until we got to 900 South. Here the train driver made an announcement that we all had to exit the train because she wasn't going any farther south. Another train would be coming to pick us up and take us on to Sandy. So, we disembarked and we waited. Another train came, everyone piled off and we waited. Another train came, those people piled off and we waited.

And we waited, and waited, and waited.

Did I mention that we waited?

After about 35 minutes of waiting the transit police showed up. Either they were worried the 1,000 unruly people on the platform might start a riot, or they just wanted to look cool by yelling at all of us to "stand behind the yellow line!!" I'm not sure why they showed up, but they weren't much help. At one point a cop yelled:

"You! Get off the track and get behind the yellow line! You! I am talking to you!"

Who? We all looked aimlessly around as he hollered, not exactly sure which of hundreds of people standing there, he was referring to. Then we heard one very disgruntled gentleman yell:

"If you'd get us a train, we'd get off the track!"

Police Officer: "A train is coming."

Another gentleman: "It better get here fast because my pass is going to expire in about four days!"

(Loads of laughter ensues, police officer walks away).

For the most part, everyone kept their cool, but we were all clearly frustrated with the situation. A UTA guy kept driving by in his truck yelling "We are doing the best we can". Really? Hundreds of people were stranded on a UTA platform with NO idea of when a train was going to come pick us up. There weren't even shuttles to haul us to different stations. Everywhere I looked people were on their phones calling for rides. Some were walking down the street to find the nearest bus station, and others were jumping into Taxi's that pulled up to the station.

After standing there for 45 minutes to an hour in the cold night air, a train finally arrived. All of us weren't able to squeeze onto that train, but we tried our best. And when the train started to move we all burst into applause and shouts of "Hurrah!" We were going to make it home after all.