Quiet Cars will be on all Metra lines starting June 6

After a successful three-month pilot project on the Rock Island Line, Chicago's Metra has decided to implement Quiet Cars on its remaining 10 lines starting on June 6, 2011. The Rock Island test was conducted from January to April. After the test, Metra asked Rock Island riders to go to its website and fill out a survey. Nearly 84 percent of those who responded said they were strongly or somewhat in favor of the Quiet Car concept. The biggest change as the program expands will be the location of the Quiet Cars on the trains. During the test, the first and last cars of rush hour trains were designated as the Quiet Cars. However, Metra learned during the test that those cars can be noisy due to their proximity to the train's bells and horns. The Quiet Cars will now be designated as the second car from the locomotive and the second car from the other end of the train on all rush hour trains with six or more cars, on all lines except the Metra Electric Line. If there are five cars or fewer on the train, only the second car from the engine will be a Quiet Car. And on the Metra Electric Line, only the third car from the south end of the train will be a Quiet Car. There will be no Quiet Car on two-car trains. All Quiet Cars will be identified with decals on outside of the car and signage inside the car. Quiet Cars will apply to all inbound trains arriving downtown before 9 a.m. and all outbound trains leaving downtown between 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.