Normal Metra UP/West service to resume Thursday

Normal train service will resume on Metra’s Union Pacific/West Line Thursday morning after a fire damaged signal equipment earlier this week at a railroad facility in west suburban Melrose Park.

Metra posted a service alert to its website at 3:21 a.m. to announce that the signal bungalow damaged in Tuesday’s fire had been repaired and all scheduled trains would operate on the UP/West Line Thursday.

The fire, caused by an electrical shortage in a piece of Union Pacific Railroad equipment, happened at a facility near 25th Avenue in Melrose Park and caused massive delays for UP/West riders Tuesday and Wednesday. Metra described the facility as a “nerve center controlling all the trains in the area.”

Metra had initially announced that repairs would delay trains until at least Thursday afternoon.