(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Mike Colias on September 27.)
CHICAGO — Metra on Monday said it has decided to launch an investigation to determine if a train engineer will be disciplined for his role in a fatal train derailment in Chicago earlier this month.
Metra said the investigation should determine whether the engineer broke any rules when he traveled through a 10 mph track switch at nearly 70 mph, causing the Sept. 17 derailment that killed two passengers and injured 80 others on the city’s South Side.
Under its contract with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Metra had 10 days from the accident to decide whether to open the investigation, which could lead to the engineer’s dismissal or other disciplinary action.
“The rule in question obviously would be the speed at which one would go through the crossover,” Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said. “It’s up to us to determine what if any role the engineer had in violating that rule.”
Metra also said it has asked the Federal Railroad Administration to suspend the engineer’s license pending the outcome of the investigation, which will begin Oct. 3. Spokesman Steven Kulm said Monday the administration had not received that request and said Metra has sole discretion to take action against the engineer.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen plan to present evidence to defend the engineer during Metra’s investigation, union vice president Rick Radek said Monday.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have said signals appear to have directed the engineer to slow to 10 mph to change tracks just before the derailment. Instead, the train hit the crossover at 69 mph, causing the locomotive and all five double-decked rail cars to leave the tracks, according to the NTSB.
The engineer has said he saw “all clear” signals just before the crash, indicating he would not have to switch tracks and could continue traveling near the speed limit of 70 mph, Radek said.
“We have been anticipating this (Metra investigation) and have been at work building a defense,” Radek said, who has identified the engineer as 41-year-old Mike Smith. A message from The Associated Press left for Smith through Radek was not immediately returned.
The engineer and three crew members on board during the accident, including a conductor, have been on paid leave pending the results of toxicology tests, Pardonnet said. The other three can return to work if their tests come back negative, but the engineer’s future depends on the outcome of Metra’s investigation, Pardonnet said.
Passengers Jane Cuthbert, 22, of Oak Forest, and Allison Walsh, 38, of New Lenox, were killed when the train headed from Joliet to Chicago derailed about five miles south of downtown. Four people remained hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries Monday, while a pregnant woman in her 20s still was in critical condition, Pardonnet said.
At least 25 lawsuits have been filed against Metra on behalf of victims, according to plaintiffs’ attorneys who were in Cook County Circuit Court for a hearing Monday.
Dan Kotin, an attorney with Corboy & Demetrio, which is representing 16 plaintiffs, told Judge Kathy M. Flanagan that he intended to add Smith as a defendant in the lawsuits.
Flanagan said she does not want the NTSB’s investigation– expected to take up to two years– to slow the civil litigation stemming from the accident.
“I am not going to accept non-action in these cases because they’re still moving with a glacial speed,” Flanagan said.