* ABC 7…
The CTA Yellow Line remains shut down on Saturday night as we learn more about what caused the crash that injured 38 people on Thursday.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said on Saturday there are likely a few contributing factors, but their key takeaway is that there appears to be a design problem within the CTA system that prevented this train from stopping sooner.
* David Struett went deeper for the Sun-Times…
But passengers and a transportation expert question the role of potential human error, including why the train was on the same track as a snow plow being used to train CTA employees. […]
One is whether the operator ran through a signal or if there was a stop signal at all, said Joseph Schwieterman, professor of transportation at DePaul University.
There’s also the question of whether the conductor was alerted to the presence of the snow plow. […]
The CTA specified the train should have been able to stop in 1,780 feet, but the NTSB found it needed 2,745 feet to stop. The CTA was using typical stopping distances for older-model L trains that don’t reflect the newer, heavier L cars, Homendy said. […]
Positive train control can track every train in operation on tracks. It’s designed to automatically stop a train if an operator runs a signal or slow it down if it’s moving too fast.
The agency recommended the CTA install the technology in 2014 after a Blue Line train crashed into the terminal at O’Hare International Airport. But the CTA was not required to install the technology because it’s exempted from the type of federal oversight given to Metra and Amtrak.
Unreal.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 11:47 am:
Considering I have used that line a thousand times, using the speed the train had coming around that curve, it is just astonishing to me that this could have happened…
And for CTA to not update their manuals, not shocking either…
This is an attorney field day.
- Big Dipper - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 12:08 pm:
Yet another reason Dorval Carter has to go.
- NIU Grad - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 12:11 pm:
“This is an attorney field day.”
One of the victims already had a lawyer on the evening news literally on the day of the crash. This is not going to be cheap for CTA…
- Ares - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 12:41 pm:
There may be special notice requirements that must be given before the CTA is even sued. This can be a trap for attorneys not familiar w PI law.
- Me. - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 12:42 pm:
One of the victims already had a lawyer on the evening news literally on the day of the crash. This is not going to be cheap for CTA…
Not just an attorney. Clifford Law Offices. They have a tiny bit of experience in this kind of thing. /s
- Huh? - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 1:41 pm:
“… question of whether the conductor was alerted …”
Conductor? What conductor? CTA did away with the conductor years ago. It is the train driver is the person who opens and closes the doors.
- CornAl DoGooder - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 1:54 pm:
Peeling back another layer of the absolute incompetence of CTA leadership that we have already seen with the service quality challenges
- Jerry - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 3:09 pm:
Great point from “Huh”. I saw that and wondered the same thing. I’m guessing newspapers dont have editors anymore. Its the operator, at the front of the train, who opens and closes the doors.
- Big Dipper - Monday, Nov 20, 23 @ 5:26 pm:
==There may be special notice requirements==
Sometimes people sue right away to get a court order to preserve evidence the defendant might conveniently destroy before someone sues.