"In a statement, CTA President Dorval Carter did not address the reasons the snowplow and train were on the same tracks, and said the agency would cooperate with the National Transportation Safety Board, which was sending a team to investigate the crash. CTA referred questions to the NTSB, which will lead the investigation." As a comparison with bygone days in 1972 when two IC commuter trains collided in Chicago and 45 people died, railroad spokesmen identified the cause and made it public within a day or two. This wreck is a bit of a puzzler. With modern ATS-equipped signaling in place, I'm stumped.
These days, news stories on transportation accidents always devolve into a diary of events as gathered from a search on Google, as if to suggest a trend or poor oversight. This one is no exception. In 2019, a Brown Line train collided with a Purple Line train .... In 2014, a Blue Line train pulling into the station at O’Hare Airport crashed through a barrier at the end of the tracks .... The following year, an embankment along the Yellow Line collapsed during a neighboring construction project, and Skokie Swift service was halted ....
That's right. I don't understand it, but they instead employ a system which inserts a signal frequency into the rails that's translated into signal aspects. Maybe the snow removal equipment had something switched off? We'll have to wait for the NTSB ..... or Chicagoland traction fans to tell us.
Here's your typical reporting, these days: "Three of the people were in serious or critical condition, though no injuries were believed to be life-threatening." Huh? Doug
