CHICAGO (CBS) — Federal investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Chicago Friday to look into a horrific crash on a CTA Yellow Line train that left everyone onboard hurt.
As CBS 2’s Noel Brennan reported, passengers and CTA workers were still recovering from injuries Friday afternoon while investigators were on the ground. At least eight people have been released from the hospital so far.
Investigators with the NTSB were seen arriving at the scene of the crash – in the Howard rail yard just north and west of the Howard terminal in Rogers Park – early Friday afternoon. They had just met with leaders from the Chicago Transit Authority at that point.
Chopper 2 captured the investigators inspecting damage to the Yellow Line train. Neither the Yellow Line train nor the snowplow have been moved since the accident, and Yellow Line service remains suspended – as it has been since the accident happened.
In a news conference late Friday afternoon, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said 14 personnel arrived on the scene Thursday night – including seven investigators, and a representative of the Transportation Disaster Assistance Team to provide assistance to victims and their families.
Homendy said on Friday morning, the NTSB designated parties in the investigation – which include the Chicago Transit Authority, the Federal Transit Administration, the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Machinists Union District 8, and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308.
The parties are entities that can provide factual information to the NTSB and help investigators as they proceed – but only part of factfinding. The NTSB alone handles the analysis of the investigation, Homendy said.
The NTSB also formed different teams to focus on different portions on the investigation. The teams will focus on issues such as crashworthiness of rail cars, the state of the tracks and signals, the event recorder and the inward- and outward-facing cameras on the train, and the equipment on the train such as the brake system, Homendy said.
The team will examine everything at the scene and take photos to help determine what additional information is needed. Later, the rail cars and equipment will be moved to a secure storage location owned by the CTA, Homendy said.
The NTSB expected to be on the scene for about five days, and a preliminary report is likely to come out in two weeks, Homendy said. She said a timeframe is not yet available as to when the Yellow Line will reopen.
“We are hoping it is within the fine days and less than that, but I can’t give you an exact time yet, because we want to give our folks time to document the scene,” Homendy said.
Audio CBS 2 obtained late Thursday appears to show that some were aware the snowplow was on the tracks – and even tried to issue a warning.
“Control operator 591, 591 – stop your train, please,” someone is heard saying in the Chicago Transit Authority control tower.
A little over a minute later, the same person in the control tower said, “They have made contact with some equipment at Chicago – the rear of the equipment – which has caused injuries on the train at this time.”
Audio from the CTA control tower we obtained shows another warning possibly came even earlier – more than an hour before the accident.
“Make sure you get the attention of the personnel – once again, that’s from Howard to Oakton,” someone says in the control tower. “Personnel is on the right-of-way.”
Homendy said the NTSB does not yet have information about the warnings, and cannot confirm there were maintenance personnel on the track before the accident and a warning went out.
Meanwhile, CBS 2’s Jermont Terry asked about whether the CTA is using Positive Train Control, or should. Positive Train Control is a federally mandated computerized safety system designed to prevent crashes.
PTC monitors a train’s weight, speed, and track conditions; taking control of the train – even stopping it – if for some reason the engineer is going too fast, or has the train too close to another vehicle.
Homendy said the NTSB recommended in a previous investigation dating back to 2014 that the CTA install train control technology – but she said she was not sure if such an issue would be relevant in the current investigation.
NTSB investigator-in-charge Jim Southworth said the CTA does not currently use Positive Train Control, but rather uses automatic train control – which is designed to control the speed of trains and avoid accidents, but is not as comprehensive.
Around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, the Skokie Swift train was on its way into the Howard terminal in Rogers Park when it crashed into a snowplow locomotive that was on the same tracks. The scene of the accident was just northwest of the Howard station, at a point where Skokie Swift trains progress from a below-grade trench that runs through southern Evanston to a stretch of open track that runs through the Howard train yard ahead of the terminal.
The collision smashed and punctured the front end of the front car of the two-car Yellow Line train. Every single person on board the train was injured.
In all, 38 people were hurt. There were 31 passengers and seven CTA employees on the train.
A total of 23 were sent to area hospitals, some with serious injuries.
By late Thursday afternoon, a lawsuit had already been filed on behalf of one of the injured passengers, 52-year-old Cleon Hawkins of Chicago. On Friday, a second lawsuit was filed, on behalf of 67-year-old Matt Jones of Skokie.
The Clifford Law Offices filed both lawsuits. Attorneys said Hawkins suffered injuries to his shoulder and leg, while Jones suffered a head injury that required stitches.
The CTA released a statement on the crash Thursday. The statement from CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. read:
“At approx. 10:30 a.m., an inbound Yellow Line passenger train approaching the Howard station collided with a diesel-powered snow removal train on the same tracks. The National Transportation Safety Board announced they will be leading this investigation. Right now, our focus is on the customers and CTA employees who were injured in this incident. The CTA worked closely with the Chicago Fire Department on the emergency response. For the investigation, CTA intends to cooperate fully with the NTSB.”
The CTA has not commented publicly on what happened or taken any questions. They have directed all questions to the NTSB.