SF340 CREW AT MDW REPOSITION ACFT FROM S RAMP TO N RAMP IS ISSUED 'TAXI TO' INSTRUCTIONS THAT CROSSES 5 RWYS.

Narrative

AFTER ARRIVING FROM A REVENUE FLT; MY CAPT AND I WERE ASKED TO REPOSITION OUR ACFT FROM THE S RAMP AT MDW (LOCATED NEAR INTXN OF TXWYS F AND P) TO THE N RAMP (LOCATED N OF TXWY N). I CALLED GND AND REQUESTED A REPOSITION TAXI FROM THE S RAMP TO THE N RAMP. GND RESPONDED WITH A TAXI TO THE RAMP VIA TXWY P. TO GO FROM S TO N RAMP ON TXWY P WILL REQUIRE YOU TO CROSS ALL 5 RWYS AT MDW. SO HE GAVE US AN UNRESTR TAXI. SINCE WE WERE DONE AFTER THE REPOSITION; WE HAD PUT OUR HEADSETS AWAY AND WERE USING THE COCKPIT SPEAKERS. WE WERE ALSO DOING THE TAXI WITH ONLY 1 ENG RUNNING. ALSO; MDW'S ACTIVE RWYS WERE RWYS 4L/R. SO I THOUGHT I WOULD VERIFY XING THOSE RWYS AS WE APCHED SINCE I DIDN'T FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH THE CLRNC. TAXIING VIA TXWY P; WE CROSSED THE APCH OF RWY 31L AND AS WE TAXIED ACROSS RWY 31C; WE WERE TOLD BY GND TO HOLD SHORT OF RWY 31R FOR A B737 TAXIING TO RWY 4R FROM THE TERMINAL. AFTER THE B737 CLRED THE AREA IN FRONT OF US; I ASKED GND IF WE COULD CROSS RWY 31R. HE RESPONDED WITH YES; CROSS RWY 31R TO PARKING OR SOMETHING SIMILAR. I THEN RESPONDED WITH XING RWY 31R AND RWYS 4L/R TO PARKING. I PURPOSELY STATED THAT TO GIVE HIM A CHANCE TO STOP US; BUT HE DID NOT RESPOND. AS WE GOT CLOSER TO RWY 4R; I WANTED TO VERIFY CLRNC TO CROSS RWY 4R; BUT DUE TO FREQ CONGESTION I WAS UNABLE. THE CAPT HAD NOT LOOKED TOWARDS THE APCH END OF RWY 4R AS WE APCHED; SO I SAID 'CLRING L;' AFTER LOOKING AT THE DEP END OF RWY 4R. THIS STATEMENT LUCKILY GOT THE CAPT TO LOOK L. HE LOOKED A COUPLE OF TIMES; THEN STOPPED THE ACFT ABRUPTLY. THE ACFT WAS NOW LOCATED WITH THE NOSE ABOUT 25 FT PAST THE HOLD SHORT LINE OF RWY 4R AND TXWY P. I ASKED HIM WHO OR WHAT IS THERE. HE SAID AN ACFT WAS ROLLING OUT OF ITS LNDG ON RWY 4R. MOMENTS LATER ANOTHER B737 APPEARED IN FRONT OF US. I THEN GOT A BEAK IN THE FREQ AND TOLD GND WE WERE 'HOLDING SHORT OF RWY 4R.' HE SAW OUR POS (I'M ASSUMING) AND IT SOUNDED AS IF HE RECOGNIZED THE ERROR. A MIN OR SO LATER AFTER ANOTHER ACFT LANDED WE WERE ALLOWED TO CROSS RWY 4R AND CONTINUE THE TAXI. POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: OUR DECISION TO NOT USE HEADSETS HAMPERED OUR ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE; TIME OF DAY WAS NIGHT; I DON'T THINK GND KNEW EXACTLY WHERE WE WANTED TO GO.