(The following story by Jon Hilkevitch and Mary Owen appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on May 29.)
CHICAGO — A veteran CTA train motorman apparently disobeyed a red “stop” signal and overruled equipment that triggered the emergency brakes, resulting in a derailment Wednesday high above the ground, according to a preliminary investigation by transit officials.
The accident shortly after the end of the morning rush on the Green Line, the latest in a string of scares on CTA rails, sparked more questions about the training and oversight of CTA rail personnel.
Although emergency personnel arrived within minutes, the situation was so precarious that the train operator ordered passengers in the first car, which separated from the rest of the train, to move to one side of the aisle to prevent the car from possibly tipping over and plunging to the ground.
“Everyone was screaming and hollering for their lives,” said Willie Jackson, 35, of Chicago, who was taking the train home from his job as a security guard for the CTA. “I just thank God it didn’t fall off the edge. It was chaos. Everyone was hysterical.”
Firefighters evacuated passengers from the elevated trestle in baskets hoisted by power ladders.
Overall, the emergency response seemed greatly improved since the CTA implemented new protocols last month after Mayor Richard Daley blasted the transit agency for serious missteps in dealing with accidents and equipment breakdowns. But staff performance issues have dogged the CTA in recent years, and the CTA’s early take on Wednesday’s derailment pointed to errors made by the operator guiding the train.
At 10:08 a.m. the first two cars of the four-car train jumped the rails at the junction where the tracks branch off near 59th Street and Prairie Avenue.
A recording device at the location confirmed that the signal on the track was red, requiring the motorman, whom the rail workers union identified as William Jones Jr., 57, to stop because the automatic switch ahead was not aligned for the train, CTA President Ron Huberman said.
A switch is a device that directs trains from one track to another.
“It appears the operator passed the signal improperly,” Huberman said at the accident scene.
Jones, a 31-year CTA veteran, was supposed to either wait for the signal to change, or radio the CTA control center to get permission to use a keypad to change the switch and proceed through the junction on Chicago’s South Side.
Permission was required to change the switch because, moments earlier, Jones overrode a mechanical device that stopped the train after it went through the red signal, officials said. The derailment happened when the switch was not in the proper position for the train to continue down the track.
It’s unclear whether Jones, who moved the train after the emergency stop, knew the switch was not aligned correctly.
A preliminary review of CTA radio tapes shows that the motorman failed to contact the control center, according to sources close to the investigation.
“Until we have [the operator’s] full statement and all the physical evidence from the incident here is gathered, all of this is very preliminary,” Huberman said.
CTA investigators also said the track switch was cracked, but it was not clear whether the damage occurred during the accident or before it.
Fourteen people suffered minor injuries when they were thrown from their seats, authorities said.
Ollie Milton, a 47-year-old nurse’s assistant, was riding home from work Wednesday morning in the front car when an “excruciating noise” alerted her that something had gone wrong.
“It was going smoothly when, all of a sudden, it went to turn,” Milton said from a wheelchair in the emergency room at the University of Chicago Medical Center while she awaited X-rays on her right knee. “Then it just came to a complete stop and the other train started sliding like it was going off the track.”
CTA investigators will look at a broad range of issues in the days ahead. With mechanical problems preliminarily ruled out, key among them are the actions of the motorman.
Jones had no rules violations in the last four years, and he completed his recertification in February, the transit agency said.
Another question still unanswered is whether Jones got off the train and conducted a required visual inspection before driving the train to the switch.
Jones, of the city’s Northwest Side, could not be reached for comment at his home.
Service was expected to resume by Thursday morning on the Ashland and East 63rd branches of the Green Line. Service was suspended Wednesday from the Garfield/55th Station south through the two South Side branches. Green Line trains entering the Loop were not affected.
The 59th Street junction is where Green Line trains switch to head either toward the Ashland branch or the East 63rd Street branch of the line. The train was headed toward the Cottage Grove branch at East 63rd Street.
No recent problems had been reported with the switching equipment at the junction, officials said. The junction is set to automatically send every other train to the two branches of the Green Line.
The CTA union representing rail workers criticized Huberman for rushing to judgment.
“This is another case where I wish Huberman would wait until he announces what he thinks is the cause,” said Rick Harris, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308.
Jones has “an impeccable record, and the odds are in his favor because he is a seasoned motorman who knows better,” Harris said.
There was one bright spot in the CTA’s response. The agency quickly notified the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, and the Chicago Fire Department was on the scene within minutes, unlike an incident in the Blue Line subway last month in which 59 minutes passed before the CTA issued a call for help.
Since that incident, the CTA has been under orders to immediately contact the emergency management office. CTA employees also are being retrained in emergency communications, and train operators were given cell phones that work in subways.
In the past, in situations that appeared non-life-threatening, CTA managers attempted to first trouble-shoot problems to get trains moving again. That often resulted in passengers being stranded on trains for long periods and in some cases attempting to evacuate trains on their own.