Metra train was 59 mph over limit
From the Chicago Sun Times
September 19, 2005
BY MARK J. KONKOL Transportation Reporter
The deadly Metra Rock Island train that jumped the tracks Saturday morning was speeding -- 59 mph over the limit -- when it smashed against the 47th Street bridge, killing two women and injuring dozens of others.
The downtown-bound train was going 69 mph when switching tracks, a maneuver restricted to 10 mph just before that viaduct, federal investigators said.
The National Transportation Safety Board's acting director, Mark Rosenker, said it's still unclear why that train switched tracks going so fast.
NTSB officials interviewed the train engineer, whom sources identified as Mike Smith, a 41-year old with only 45 days' experience taking commuters from Joliet to downtown. Smith spent 51/2 years driving freight trains for CSX and completed a six-month Metra training period on the Rock Island line.
Rosenker said he would not provide details of conversations with Smith, whom they did not identify, until conductors and a toll collector also are interviewed. Results of toxicology tests on the engineer and crew also were not available Sunday.
NTSB officials said what few details available about Smith are he is in good health, with normal vision and hearing. Smith scored a 99-out-of-100 on the Metra training exam. He did have a cellular phone with him on the train Saturday, but said he was not using it. The NTSB plans to review Smith's phone records.
A team of investigators has inspected the track, train cars and signals at the crash scene. Rosenker said the walking inspection of the track found "nothing extraordinary." Investigators also will review records of train signals, radio transmissions and information from the three "black box" data recorders.
"We have to look at event data recorder in more detail. We must also coordinate that with the signal logs, which will give us an idea of what was supposed to have happened," Rosenker said.
The recorder showed the train didn't slow down before the crossover switch, which triggered the derailment. The recorder indicated a sudden application of the emergency brake.
However, it wasn't clear if the engineer had applied the emergency break himself or whether the train induced it by "breaking apart."
The day of the incident, a trainee dispatcher was working with a fully qualified dispatcher, and NTSB investigators still need to determine which one of them issued the signal to the engineer.
About 8:30 this morning, officials will try to re-create the conditions Smith encountered Saturday by running a train at 65 mph near the crash site.
2 dead; dozens injured
So far, there is only one thing certain about the crash: Speed caused it.
"Sixty-nine miles per hour is very, very fast when you're dealing with a 10-mile-an-hour restriction," Rosenker said.
And at that velocity, changing tracks was fatal. Passengers who suffered the worst injuries, Rosenker said, were in the the fourth car of the five-car train.
After leaving the tracks, the fourth car slammed against the steel bridge wall and crumpled. The train's spinning wheels sliced through the undercarriage, fire department sources said.
"We are looking at that car . . . to understand exactly what created that fatality. Clearly the collision between the bridge and that car had something to do with that fatality," he said.
Jane Cuthbert, 22, a University of Illinois at Chicago student from Oak Forest, died on the train. And Allison Walsh, 38, of New Lenox, was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where she died from her injuries.
In all, 50 people walked away unscathed, 51 passengers suffered minor injuries and 16 were seriously or critically injured. On Sunday, 15 people were still being treated at area hospitals. Among them is a pregnant woman in her 20s who was clinging to life at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, sources said.
Smith was operating the locomotive -- which was pushing the five-car train -- from controls in the lead car, which was empty. Passengers were in three other cars, and the fifth car, the one nearest the engine, also was empty.
Just past the 47th Street bridge, the fifth car and engine separated from the rest of the train and violently skidded to a halt, throwing passengers and bolted-down chairs in other cars through the air.
That section of track was the site of a similar, though less deadly, derailment Oct. 12, 2003. The NTSB report on that accident is not complete, but Rosenker said he expects it to be completed in a few months.
That derailment was blamed on a rookie engineer, who was demoted to assistant conductor. He didn't notice two warnings to slow down before the crossover, which he went through at 67 mph.
Could take two years
Normally, Metra trains are allowed to take much of the Rock Island line straightaway between the Gresham and La Salle Street stops at 70 mph hour, and are only required to slow to a 10 mph crawl when crossing to a different track.
Rosenker said figuring out why that didn't happen Saturday will take up to two years.
"We rule things out, not in," he said. ". . . We'll get down to a point to make that final report, which will include the probable cause and recommendations to prevent this or similar accidents from happening again."
September 19, 2005
BY MARK J. KONKOL Transportation Reporter
The deadly Metra Rock Island train that jumped the tracks Saturday morning was speeding -- 59 mph over the limit -- when it smashed against the 47th Street bridge, killing two women and injuring dozens of others.
The downtown-bound train was going 69 mph when switching tracks, a maneuver restricted to 10 mph just before that viaduct, federal investigators said.
The National Transportation Safety Board's acting director, Mark Rosenker, said it's still unclear why that train switched tracks going so fast.
NTSB officials interviewed the train engineer, whom sources identified as Mike Smith, a 41-year old with only 45 days' experience taking commuters from Joliet to downtown. Smith spent 51/2 years driving freight trains for CSX and completed a six-month Metra training period on the Rock Island line.
Rosenker said he would not provide details of conversations with Smith, whom they did not identify, until conductors and a toll collector also are interviewed. Results of toxicology tests on the engineer and crew also were not available Sunday.
NTSB officials said what few details available about Smith are he is in good health, with normal vision and hearing. Smith scored a 99-out-of-100 on the Metra training exam. He did have a cellular phone with him on the train Saturday, but said he was not using it. The NTSB plans to review Smith's phone records.
A team of investigators has inspected the track, train cars and signals at the crash scene. Rosenker said the walking inspection of the track found "nothing extraordinary." Investigators also will review records of train signals, radio transmissions and information from the three "black box" data recorders.
"We have to look at event data recorder in more detail. We must also coordinate that with the signal logs, which will give us an idea of what was supposed to have happened," Rosenker said.
The recorder showed the train didn't slow down before the crossover switch, which triggered the derailment. The recorder indicated a sudden application of the emergency brake.
However, it wasn't clear if the engineer had applied the emergency break himself or whether the train induced it by "breaking apart."
The day of the incident, a trainee dispatcher was working with a fully qualified dispatcher, and NTSB investigators still need to determine which one of them issued the signal to the engineer.
About 8:30 this morning, officials will try to re-create the conditions Smith encountered Saturday by running a train at 65 mph near the crash site.
2 dead; dozens injured
So far, there is only one thing certain about the crash: Speed caused it.
"Sixty-nine miles per hour is very, very fast when you're dealing with a 10-mile-an-hour restriction," Rosenker said.
And at that velocity, changing tracks was fatal. Passengers who suffered the worst injuries, Rosenker said, were in the the fourth car of the five-car train.
After leaving the tracks, the fourth car slammed against the steel bridge wall and crumpled. The train's spinning wheels sliced through the undercarriage, fire department sources said.
"We are looking at that car . . . to understand exactly what created that fatality. Clearly the collision between the bridge and that car had something to do with that fatality," he said.
Jane Cuthbert, 22, a University of Illinois at Chicago student from Oak Forest, died on the train. And Allison Walsh, 38, of New Lenox, was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where she died from her injuries.
In all, 50 people walked away unscathed, 51 passengers suffered minor injuries and 16 were seriously or critically injured. On Sunday, 15 people were still being treated at area hospitals. Among them is a pregnant woman in her 20s who was clinging to life at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, sources said.
Smith was operating the locomotive -- which was pushing the five-car train -- from controls in the lead car, which was empty. Passengers were in three other cars, and the fifth car, the one nearest the engine, also was empty.
Just past the 47th Street bridge, the fifth car and engine separated from the rest of the train and violently skidded to a halt, throwing passengers and bolted-down chairs in other cars through the air.
That section of track was the site of a similar, though less deadly, derailment Oct. 12, 2003. The NTSB report on that accident is not complete, but Rosenker said he expects it to be completed in a few months.
That derailment was blamed on a rookie engineer, who was demoted to assistant conductor. He didn't notice two warnings to slow down before the crossover, which he went through at 67 mph.
Could take two years
Normally, Metra trains are allowed to take much of the Rock Island line straightaway between the Gresham and La Salle Street stops at 70 mph hour, and are only required to slow to a 10 mph crawl when crossing to a different track.
Rosenker said figuring out why that didn't happen Saturday will take up to two years.
"We rule things out, not in," he said. ". . . We'll get down to a point to make that final report, which will include the probable cause and recommendations to prevent this or similar accidents from happening again."
posted by Ken / WA3FKG at 8:48 PM
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