Two downed power lines laying across the train tracks near Barrington temporarily halted inbound and outbound Metra Union PacificNorthwest Line trains Wednesday morning.
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Trains, which run between Harvard and the Ogilvie Transportation Center in downtown Chicago, were moving again in both directions by late-morning, according to Metra spokeswoman Sylvia Cooper.
A train scheduled to leave Harvard at 9:35 a.m. and arrive at Ogilvie at 11:23 a.m. Wednesday was delayed due to downed power lines near Barrington.
The Barrington Public Works Department noticed a blown transformer near Northwest Highway and Cumnor Avenue in Barrington — about two miles away from the Metra station — and alerted the village around 8:40 a.m., village spokeswoman Patty Dowd Schmitz said.
She could not confirm whether or not the blown transformer was related to the downed power lines.
Further, neither the village nor ComEd explained how the wires came to be down on the tracks.
However, ComEd worked to remove the wires off the railroad, arriving on the scene around 10 a.m., according to ComEd spokeswoman Jazmin Rangel.
As a safety precaution, ComEd cut power to the area surrounding the downed lines as workers removed the wires from the tracks, Rangel said.
ComEd is currently working to restore power in that area, according to Rangel. As of 10:30 a.m., 54 customers remained without power while 114 saw their power restored.
Full power restoration was estimated to happen later in the afternoon, Rangel said.
Metra warned throughout the situation that riders could expect “extensive delays,” and late arrivals and departures persisted into early afternoon.
Metra encouraged riders to visit its website or listen to platform announcements for information.
Twitter: @kaitlinedquist