Given. But, then, ought not there be some general familiarity and training about these things, too?
Admittedly, the morass of tracks and interchanges in and around Chicago can be confusing, even to a railfan. Still, how does someone who works regularly in an area not know that a certain set of tracks is the old I.C. mainline with six busy tracks or that Metra and South Shore runs frequent trains up there? Plus, with information readily available in digitized maps at fingertips of computer entry, ought not an emergency services dispather be able to pull up the appropriate information quickly, with basic street locations?
Worst case scenario is that much of the trackage in the city has some sort of Metra service on it. Contacting their police department or dispather ought to assist in sorting such things out.
Maybe, maybe not. I honestly don’t know what training police receive regarding railroads in the area. Perhaps Metra’s police department knows, but, honestly, by the time you get in contact with them, get them to figure out where you are, and then get in contact with the correct dispatcher, so much time will have passed that there’s no way you’ll have kept up pursuit of the suspect.
At CTA, you call their control center, tell them where you are, and they will get in touch with the power controller (who is located in the same room, a few feet away) and they can have power off and trains stopped within 30 seconds.
Personally, I’ve had two occasions to call railroad police to report dangerous trespasser activity. One time, I saw a team of photographers scurrying from a crossing when the Empire Builder went through, and when the train cleared, they went right back to walking along the tracks. The specific track is owned by Metra and dispatched by Canadian Pacific. Whose police should I call? Of course, at the time, I didn’t have the Metra police phone number (and it either wasn’t listed on the crossing gate or I didn’t think to check), but it was less than 1/4 mile from the end of Amtrak territory (CP Canal, north/west of Chicago Union Station) and I did have their number in my phone, so I called them. It took 5-10 minutes to get through to someone, explain the situation, state exactly where I was, etc. That’s far too long for an actual emergency. (Side note, since I’m friends with a manager that runs the Amtrak control center in Chicago, I also called him so he could get a notice to outbound crews to be aware of the trespassers as they leave).
A second time, I saw a group of well-meaning, but evidently not sanctioned by the railroad (no safety vests or gear) folks picking up litter near the Jefferson Park Metra station, including stepping on the tracks, going well beyond the passenger platform, etc. I can’t remember if I saw the Union Pacific police number posted at the station or if I had to google it, but it was an endless string of menu options (“If you are organizing a parade and the parade route is crossing our tracks, press 317”). After several minutes of not finding the right menu option, I just gave up and hung up.
Now, I can guess/hope that local cops have a more direct number than a member of the public, but I know better than to automatically assume they do. I can hope that cops receive training about the railroads in their specific area, but know better than to automatically assume they do. Further, even if they do, I certainly wouldn’t assume that individual police officers are going to remember each of the dozen or two railroads and which one is where. It might seem obvious to us to say “well, duh, that’s Metra Electric, that’s NICTD, that’s ... etc.” but I wouldn’t assume it’s obvious to everyone else. I’ve known cops to be flat-out wrong about more obvious stuff than that, without the added stress of chasing a suspect with a gun.
I’m not going to say what these cops did was right or safe (clearly, in hindsight, it wasn’t), but if we are going to expect cops to have to go through a 5 or 10 minute process just to chase a suspect down the railroad, then that’s almost an instant getaway for any criminal that figures it out. Just run down the railroad, they can’t chase you.
I'd still argue that a suspect who runs onto a railroad is stupid, not just for being on the tracks, but for essentially fencing oneself in. As for chases, not every chase is a good chase.
