Metra will begin testing

  After Metra requested passenger feedback on the idea of implementing quiet cars, the agency received more than 1,000 e-mails. The vast majority - about 86 percent - expressed support for the idea, and so the agency decided to conduct a test on one line. The rules are simple: No cell phone calls. If passengers must answer their phones, they should make it brief or move to the vestibule or another car. Conversations should be short and in subdued voices. All electronic devices must be muted, and headphones should not be loud enough for anyone else to hear. The test will go for three months. It will apply to morning inbound and evening outbound rush-hour trains, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The quiet cars will be the first and last cars of the train during those hours. They will be identified with decals on the outside of the car and signage inside the car. Metra is using the Rock Island line for the test to make sure it is proceeding in the right way. If the test goes as expected, the program will be expanded to other lines. The Rock Island Line, which runs from Joliet to LaSalle Street Station downtown, serves more than 15,000 passengers a day. Metra expects this program to be largely enforced by peer pressure and conductor intervention when necessary. Many riders said that having a rule in place will empower them to ask noisy people to be quiet or move. Conductors will carry small notices that they can discreetly present to passengers who are violating the quiet car rules. Metra hopes all passengers will remember to treat their fellow passengers with courtesy and respect, no matter where they are sitting.