Phil Pagano’s Legacy

Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano and local Metra Attorney Joe Gottemoller appear before the Crystal Lake City Council concerning the proposed Ridgefield commuter station.

A lot has been written by others of the legacy that Phil Pagano left Metra.

Having only ridden the Chicago and Northwestern line, I see less service since Metra took over, not more, except for the new Pingree Road Station.

The lessening of customer service pre-dated Pagano’s leadership, so I won’t blame him.

Other say that service on train lines other than the Northwestern (purchased by the Union Pacific) have improved. I’ll take their word for it. I’ve hear the Milwaukee Line was not so good.

Not much will be written about Pagano’s other legacy—showing people all over the country how to commit suicide.  (Yes, all over the country.  The 11 PM national CBS radio news led with his suicide and it made national TV.)

It is just too coincidental that yesterday’s Pingree Road suicide by train took place in Crystal Lake.

It strains credulity to think that the man who killed himself was not inspired by Pagano’s method of ending his life.

Union Pacific freight train speeding through Union, Illinois.

Everyone who is depressed does not have a handgun.

Everyone does have a nearby train.

If it appears I’m disturbed, I am.

Pagano did not have to make a public spectacle of his death.


Comments

Phil Pagano’s Legacy — 4 Comments

  1. I used to see Phil Pagano on the train every evening coming home from work. However, at the time, I had no idea who he was.

    He would always sit in the same seat, and fall asleep. Like clockwork, the conductor would always come by, tap his foot and wake him up to make him show his badge/train pass. He would talk with a few people when getting off at Crystal Lake. I know, not the most interesting story but when I heard of the suicide and saw the picture of him, I couldn’t believe it.

    Regarding service — I came from taking the BNSF line to the UPNW line. To me, it is light and day. The BNSF line always had delays, switch problems, random stops. UPNW, while I would be misleading you if I said never had a delay or randomly stopped, they seem few and far between.

    Anyway, I thought I’d share that tid-bit of information.

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