A CTA train operator knew there was a snow removal machine on the Yellow Line tracks last month but didn’t know exactly where it would be before his train slammed into it, injuring dozens.
That’s according to a preliminary report on the Nov. 16 crash released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board, which offered new details on the crash that sent 19 people to hospitals.
The six-paragraph summary of the crash says federal investigators are focusing on CTA rail signals, railcar brakes and track conditions as they try to pinpoint why the train couldn’t avoid hitting the snow removal machine near the Howard Street station.
Thirty-one people, including the operator, were aboard the train when the collision happened about 10:30 a.m. on a clear, 61-degree day, the preliminary report says. It happened just after a bend in the track that may have reduced the operator’s visibility down the track. Six people were on the plow.
Sixteen people were hospitalized and later released, according to the NTSB report. Three were critically injured.
The operator “was aware that the snow removal machine was operating on the Yellow Line as part of a training exercise but did not know its exact location,” the report says.
Damage to the train and other CTA equipment was estimated to cost $8.7 million, according to the NTSB.
The impact of the crash ejected a CTA employee from the snowplow, according to a police report. First responders found the man trapped under the plow.
The employee and the operator of the CTA train were seriously injured in the crash, the police report states. One passenger was initially listed as serious but was upgraded shortly after the crash, according to the report. Thirty-five others had less serious injuries, with 15 of them declining to be taken to hospitals, fire officials said after the crash.
The NTSB’s preliminary report found the snow removal machine was “stopped about 370 feet north of a red signal indication.”
The Yellow Line train was going 54 mph — below the 55 mph limit — when the operator got a signal command to stop due to the plow being about 2,150 feet ahead.
The operator “immediately initiated a full service braking application” and got the train down to 27 mph when the collision happened.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy previously said investigators have learned that the train’s wheels were slipping when the operator was braking but are still trying to determine whether “debris residue” on the tracks played a role.
More than three weeks after the crash, the entire Yellow Line remains suspended and the CTA won’t say when they expect it to reopen.
At least seven lawsuits have been filed against the CTA regarding the crash.
Two days after the crash, the NTSB suggested several possible contributing factors were behind it. They were investigating residue found on the tracks and whether that caused the wheels to slip.
The NTSB also said the CTA had been telling drivers their trains could stop faster than they actually can. The CTA had been using stopping estimates for older, lighter trains, the NTSB said then.