9/30/13 CTA Blue Line Crash

[AmtrakBlue]

Probably the operator saw it, hit the brakes and fled back into the car. Not much else they could have done.

That's what my boyfriend suggested as well.

From the quotes I've read, it sounds like the train may have been unoccupied and just started rolling... This one will be curious to follow.

I think she's talking about the occupied train.Was the occupied train at a stop? If so, perhaps the engineer/driver was not in the cab or if s/he was, had time to move.

 

[MikefromCrete]

The occupied westbound train was stopped at the Harlem Avenue station. Apparently the operator (the correct term for a CTA motorman/engineer) had closed the doors and was ready to depart when he saw the oncoming unoccupied east bound train. He reportedly yelled "stop, stop", and abandoned the cab. He may or may not have opened the doors before the crash. A passenger was quoted as saying he used the emergency exit button to open one of the doors. The injuries were caused by people being knocked around by the impact and the rush to get off the train. The oncoming train was traveling at about 20 mph so the impact with the stopped train wasn't as bad as it could have been. The ends of both trains took the impact as seen in photos. The interior of the cars were reportedly in good shape with the seats remaining in place.

The whole incident is quite a mystery. Apparently two of the runaway cars had been in the Forest Park yard for several days awaiting movement to the Skokie shops for some work. Two separate keys are needed to get into and start the train and the train passed two switches which should have stopped the train. In addition, there's a "deadman's" device on the controller that should have stopped the train. Nobody was seen on the train when it passed workers in the yard and at the Forest Park platform. It will be interesting to see if the NTSB can figure this out.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Trains News Wire is reporting that police are investigating the possiblity the 'rogue' train was "hijacked."

IMHO seems like they need to be looking at that option, given the circumstances, if for no other reason, to rule it out.

 

[Bob Dylan]

They might well (and rightly) assume that AU is a clique of clowns that together with apparent leadership gets yuks out of accidents and other mishaps.

But I can never remember... Are you Abbott and I'm Costello, or is it vise-versa? :giggle:

"Whos on First and Whats on Second!" ^_^

 

[jis]

What is the gradient profile of the track between the yard and the station where the collision took place? Did the rogue train pass only through trailing switches on its way to the wrong main? If there is a general slope from the yard to the station and only trailing switches were passed, then it is completely plausible that the brakes got released somehow and it just ran away under gravity power.

 

[SarahZ]

The occupied westbound train was stopped at the Harlem Avenue station. Apparently the operator (the correct term for a CTA motorman/engineer) had closed the doors and was ready to depart when he saw the oncoming unoccupied east bound train. He reportedly yelled "stop, stop", and abandoned the cab. He may or may not have opened the doors before the crash. A passenger was quoted as saying he used the emergency exit button to open one of the doors.

Thanks, Mike. I was, indeed, talking about the operator in the occupied train.

 

[Trogdor]

What is the gradient profile of the track between the yard and the station where the collision took place? Did the rogue train pass only through trailing switches on its way to the wrong main? If their is a general slope from the yard to the station and only trailing switches were passed, then it is completely plausible that the brakes got released somehow and it just ran away under gravity power.

I don't recall the grade between the yard and Forest Park station, but once you get north* of the station, there is a pretty decent downgrade that would probably be enough to let the train coast to Harlem.

*All CTA rail lines, except for the Pink Line, are designated as north-south.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

This Tribune story says - among other things - that the moving train had been left in in the yard with power on, "for possibly days," before running almost a mile downhill, through mechanical train stops, and slamming into the stopped train.

NTSB: Blue Line 'ghost train' was left in yard with power on - http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-ntsb-blue-line-ghost-train-was-left-in-yard-with-power-on-20131004,0,1119559.story

"The runaway four-car train was parked in the yard, at the western terminus of the Forest Park branch, with power to the propulsion system, lights and other equipment activated for possibly days before the incident, said a source close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity."

 

[SarahZ]

During the incident, the emergency brakes were applied and the train was momentarily stopped several times by the mechanical train stop mechanisms, called “trips,’’ as it proceeded to the Harlem station.“After each stop, the train started moving again because the master lever on the operator console had been left in a setting that allowed the train car brakes to recover and reset from the emergency brake application and proceed through a mechanical train stop mechanism after a momentary stop,’’ the NTSB report accompanying the recommendations said.

Is this human error? Is the "master lever" supposed to be moved to a specific position? Why wouldn't the "dead man" thing kick in?