More questions after NTSB report on CTA crash
Investigators are scrutinizing the signal and braking systems in place when a CTA train hit a snow plow last month as well as “organic material” on the rails.
The southbound Yellow Line train collided with a snow removal machine at about 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 16 near the Howard station.
Three people were critically injured and 16 were taken to hospital for treatment and released.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report this week stating the train operator knew the plow was on the Yellow Line for training but not where it was located.
When a stop command was issued from the signal system, “the operator immediately initiated a full service braking application to stop the train. The operator then saw the snow removal machine and initiated an emergency braking application,” officials said.
“It looks like the operator was absolved of any negligence,” University of Illinois at Chicago Urban Transportation Center Director P.S. Sriraj said. “They did everything they were supposed to do. The second they knew about the snowplow equipment ... they applied the brakes.”
Authorities reported the signal system was “configured to allow a stopping distance of 1,780 feet or less.”
They also found the train was running at 54 mph, within the 55 mph speed limit, when the stop command came. At that point, the plow was halted about 2,150 feet ahead.
When the collision occurred, the train had slowed to 27 mph.
“You have 2,150 feet of clearance between when the operator recognized there was equipment on the same tracks and when the brakes were deployed. So from the time the brakes were deployed, you had that much distance to cover to come to a stop - but it didn’t,” said Sriraj, a civil engineering professor.
The NTSB plans to drill down on “the design and configuration of the CTA signal system, the design and braking performance of the railcars,” and examine “organic material present on top of the running rails.”
Officials have not specified if the material was leaves.
“We don’t what it was, but it could have played a part in reducing the friction,” Sriraj said. “If not for that material, would it have stopped ahead of the plow?”
The train had one operator and 30 passengers while six crew members were on the snow plow.
Damages to CTA equipment come to about $8.7 million.