For any who haven't heard about this mishap at O'Hare: "CHICAGO (AP) — An eight-car Chicago commuter train plowed across a platform and scaled an escalator at the underground station of one of the nation's busiest airports early Monday, injuring 32 people on board, officials said.No one suffered life-threatening injuries in the Blue Line derailment at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said during a morning briefing. An enormous disaster was avoided thanks to the timing of the crash just before 3 a.m. The bustling station is usually packed with travelers using the major airport, but Chicago Transit Authority official said the crash happened at a traditionally quiet time. Denise Adams, a passenger on the train, told the Chicago Sun-Times she heard a loud noise during the impact. "I heard a 'Boom!' and when I got off the train, the train was all the way up the escalator," she said. "It was a lot of panic." CTA investigators along with the city fire department and police were reviewing security footage and interviewing the driver and other CTA workers to pin down the cause of the accident. National Transportation Safety Board was leading the investigation. "We will be looking at equipment. We will be looking at signals. We'll be looking at the human factor and any extenuating circumstances," CTA spokesman Brian Steele said. "But really at this point, it's far too soon to speculate." Transit agency officials said crews were working to remove the train and fix the escalator, which received "significant damage." Hours after the crash, the front of the first car could still be seen near the top of the escalator. Christopher Bushell, CTA's chief infrastructure officer, said it would likely be at least 12 to 24 hours before the station would reopen. He said workers will cut the train apart and remove it in pieces on a flatbed. The CTA was busing passengers to and from O'Hare to the next station on the line. The train appeared to have been going too fast as it approached the end-of-line station and didn't stop at a bumping post — a metal shock absorber at the end of the tracks. "The train actually climbed over the last stop, jumped up on the sidewalk and then went up the stairs and escalator," Santiago said. "Apparently (it) was traveling at a rate of speed that clearly was higher than a normal train would be," Steele said. It wasn't clear how many people were on board at the time of the crash, but that it took place during what is "typically among our lowest ridership time," Steele said. The injured were taken to area hospitals and Santiago said most were able to walk away from the wreck unaided. Six of the injured, all of whom were in stable condition, were brought to Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, said hospital spokesman Nick Przybyciel. Evonne Woloshyn, a spokeswoman at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, said seven people were treated for minor "whiplash-type" injuries after complaining of head and neck pain. Most were released Monday morning and the rest were expected to be discharged later in the day." As I've said elsewhere, it's something to be thankful that it happened at off-hours; the possibilities at other times are not good to contemplate. Just hope we hear more from the investigation.
This isn't supposed to happen with all the expensive technology the CTA has. Be warned that PTC is just as fallible and will need to be purchased with private funds, not taxpayer money. Everyone wonders why the railroads are not in a hurry to pony up the billions of dollars ..
Like I said, it's best to wait for the investigation and see why this happened. To your point, it's quite true that "foolproof" systems often just attract bigger fools and bad things still happen...
At first, I thought I was reading the plot for the movie "Speed" and then I realized truth is stranger than fiction.
This morning's news article reportedly quoting the local union indicates the driver dozed off while approaching the terminal.
Saw the same report, but a good part of me still wants to wait for something from an official source, from within the investigative team with access to the entirety of the data. The individual quoted in that report is, whether out of good motivations or otherwise, using partial and anecdotal information.
Wow, I use those escalators down to the blue line almost every time I fly to Chicago! Dude had to have been flying to make that.
From what I understand, it wasn't a "dude." Anyway, this and the Metro North accident in December certainly seem quite similar, focusing on the human element.
A piece of a mash-up on AOL this morning: "The driver of the Chicago subway train that crashed and barreled over the platform at O'Hare Airport on Monday admits she dozed off. "The driver fell asleep, but 2 backup systems should have stopped the train. That's what the NTSB said...The NTSB says an alarm set off two emergency breaks. It's not clear why they didn't stop the train in time." ( KSHB-KC 41 ) The Chicago Tribune reports that, according to CTA, the driver may have fallen asleep shortly before her train smashed through a “bumping post” at the end of the track just before 3:00 A.M. The driver admits this wasn't the first time she's used the dashboard for a pillow. But, perhaps her failure is overshadowed. The malfunction of the automatic emergency breaks may be the bigger issue." So two potential partial causes, a final verdict still pending. Sounds like quite a mess leading to this crash.
Is fatigue an issue at the CTA? I'd imagine they work much more regular shifts than 'real' railroaders.
Nothing much new except the predictable sniping between CTA and the union. Trainboy, there is some reporting by the Chicago Tribune that the operator in question is one of the crew members on the extra board, and has to call in each afternoon to check her upcoming schedule. About 4:30, I think they said.
