Train derailment at Chicago O'Hare international airport injures 32

[EC]

Via the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/commuter-train-derails-chicago-ohare-international-airport

An eight-car Chicago commuter train plowed across a platform and scaled an escalator at an underground station at one of the nation's busiest airports early on 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.

Chicago Transit Authority (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 around 2.50am. The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified.

"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."

Steele said crews were working to remove the train and fix the escalator and were not sure when the station will reopen. The CTA was busing passengers to and from O'Hare to the next station on the line.

More at link.

[rangerrebew]

Via the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/commuter-train-derails-chicago-ohare-international-airport

More at link.

I have been on that train at 2:50 AM.  I'm glad we had a better driver.

[EC]

He managed to aim it up the escalator. Pretty decent driving, in my book.

[rangerrebew]

He managed to aim it up the escalator. Pretty decent driving, in my book.

Maybe the driver thought he could "climb" the union ladder with this effort.

[mountaineer]

I have been on that train at 2:50 AM.  I'm glad we had a better driver.

Yikes. I've been on that train later in the day, but it never occurred to me that it could derail and go up the escalator.

[mountaineer]

More at NY Post:



... The train appeared to speeding as it approached the end-of-line station and did not stop at a “bumping post” — a metal shock absorber at the end of the tracks, witnesses said, describing a scene of chaos and panic.  ...

Officials said it was not immediately known if the motorman had some sort of medical problem prior to the crash but said that operator was walking, talking and answering questions afterward.

[rangerrebew]

Yikes. I've been on that train later in the day, but it never occurred to me that it could derail and go up the escalator.

Whenever I'm in Chicago and hear those trains, I'm amazed it doesn't happen more frequently.  Some of those trestles where the train is above ground look like they've been there for a 100 years and never updated.  With all that clanking and squealing of the wheels, it's scary to be underneath them when they pass above you.

[mountaineer]

We'll be in Boston soon and will take the T from the airport to our hotel. I hope we have a better driver.

[mountaineer]

The conductor has told her union that she may have dozed off, due to having worked so much overtime lately.

[Chieftain]

YIKES!!  Imagine standing at the head of that escalator, watching that train come barreling right at you....