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1974 South Side train collision

• The last serious accident on CTA lines occurred in September 1974 when 41 persons were taken to hospitals and six were admitted. There were four serious accidents in 1974, the worst on May 10 when 224 passengers were taken to a hospital alter a similar rearend collision at a South Side station.

1976 Kennedy Expressway train collision

Background

Explain the creation of the Kennedy Expressway RT and the A/B system?

Collision

On January 9, 1976

at 8:07 am CST a train was stopped

"Collision jams up Kennedy", Chicago Tribune, Fact Sheet

• David Young and Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune labeled the event "the worst accident in the six-year history of the Kennedy Expressway rapid transit line" at the time.
• 379 passengers were injured.
• The accident caused a traffic jam that lasted for hours; rescue equipment, cleanup operations, and rubbernecking were listed as contributing factors. Police cars were placed at entrances to the Kennedy Expressway to reroute traffic, some being placed near Lawrence Avenue. Edens Expressway suffered similar conditions.
• The most severe injuries occurred to passengers in the sixth and last car of the standing train at the Addison Street station and the first car of the approaching train that collided with it.
• Firemen and the police removed all injured passengers from the trains within 45 minutes of the collision.
• The standing train was a "A" schedule train; the approaching train was a "B" schedule train. The line was the Milwaukee line.
• The standing "A" train had at least seven cars.
• The approaching "B" train had four cars.
• Damaged cars were moved to the Jefferson Park station, which was the line's terminal at the time, and service to inbound trains resumed at 9:45 pm CST.
• The fire department was alerted at 8:08 am CST.
• The rescue mission involved 10 ambulances, a helicopter, two "flying squad" units with cutting tools, jacks, torches, and two snorkels.
• Injured passengers were taken to nine area hospitals.
• 100 additional passengers told CTA via phone that they would consult their own personal health professionals for examination and treatment.
• This incident was investigated by the NTSB and the FRA.
• McKinly Ross, the motorman who was driving the approaching train, told Hubert Jewell the lead investigator for NTSB and FRA's investigation:
  • he was given the permission from his supervisor to bypass the cab-signal safety system and operate the train manually.
  • his cab signal system emitted a steady beeping that indicated it was not working properly. He requested for it to be shut off.
  • he was "blinded by the sun and glare from snow".
  • he was approximately 300 feet away when he saw the standing train.
  • he immediately applied the emergency break. It was confirmed that all three breaking mechanisms were activated when the collision occurred.
  • he was going the CTA speed limit of 30-35 mph while (attempting) to go through Addison station.
• According to Jewell, Ross "followed the guidelines the CTA has to allow him to operate this train in bypass (manually)."
• Ross left the incident without major injuries.
• Ross was immediately suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation.
• The standing "A" train. was making an "A" stop at an "A" station.
• Ross passed his drug tests.
• This was one of many incidents with the opening of the Kennedy Expressway rapid transit.

"UPI briefs: CTA safety study voted", The Vidette, Fact Sheet

• After this incident and the 1977 Chicago Loop derailment, CTA voted to allow an outside consulting firm to study the safety of their network. It costed them $286940.
  • The concentration of the study was to find ways to improve alertness among it's motormen and evaluate the human factors of the two crashes.
• One person died in this incident.
• One CTA train ran into the rear of another CTA train at the Addison Street station.
• Motorman McKinly Ross was blamed for the incident.
• Ross said the signal system malfunctioned and a blinding glare from the sun prevented him from seeing the other train.
• The US Urban Mass Transportation Administration offered federal aid for a safety study following this incident, but it took CTA more than a year to process this request and find a consultant, according to CTA general manager George Krambles.
• The CTA was ridiculed by citizen groups for failing to execute the study before the 1977 derailment.

"404 Injured in Train Crash", Desert Sun, Fact Sheet

• A "crowded" CTA train plowed into the rear of another "loaded" CTA train, parked in an Expressway station.
• The rear car of the standing train was telescoped, trapping passengers in this car.
• more than 400 people went to the hospital
• no deaths were (initially) reported, but the Chicago Hospotal Council and nine hospotals said 404 people reported for treatment.
• Northwest Memorial said it had 103 of the injured and six required major surgery.
• Rescue efforts were conducted in 1 degree weather.
• There weren't any screams.
• It seems that the approaching train smashed into the standing train 4 seats deep and pushed the standing train 15 yards forward.
• Thomas Buck said there were approximately 500 people aboard both "six car" southbound trains.
• The crash occurred at 8:15 am.
• Happened at the Addison Street Station, which is situated in the median of the Kennedy Expressway.
• Quoted as happening on the "south side"?

"Chicago Train Crash 'Fail-Safe' Device Not", Santa Cruz Sentinel, Fact Sheet

• The "fail-safe" on the train wasn't working and was off when the accident happened, according to CTA officials.
• A 61 year-old man, Kenneth Biere, who was injured in the crash died the following Saturday.
• He was one of "61" people hospitalized after the collision.
• A six-car electric train stopped at a station on the city's northwest side.
• A second four-car train plowed into the rear end of the standing train.
• CTA acknowledged that the motorman of the second train, McKinley Ross, 35 at the time, was allowed to turn off the fail safe.
• The device was out of order, and he was told to turn it off, according to the CTA.

"200 hurt in Chicago rain [sic] crash", Santa Cruz Sentinel, Fact Sheet

• A crowded train slammed into the rear of another train that was stopped at a station in the morning of 9 January 1976.
• More than 200 of the 600 passengers aboard were treated at local hospitals.
• It was apparent to Police Supt. James Rochford that people were critically hurt.
• Four of the injured had to be cut free from the wreckage.
• The aisle of the rear car buckled with the force of impact, and seats in five cars were torn loose and smashed.
• "Glass sprayed in all directions"
• People coming out of the cars with bloody noses and cuts on their faces.
• They were rushing to get out of the cars as quickly as possible.
• Tom Buck estimated the number of people on the trains.
• The leading six-car "A" train was stopped when it was rammed by the 4 car "B" train that was not scheduled to stop at the addison "A" station.
• Two that were trapped in the wreckage were in the motorman's cab of the "A" train. This cab wasn't occupied by CTA staff at the time, and passengers used the empty seats.

Congressional Hearing, Fact Sheet

• The Urban Mass Transit Administration Safety Program Manager investigated this collision.
• The investigation concluded that:
  • During the morning rush hour on January 9, 1976, train #104 experienced a power interruption on 3 cars of it's six-car train.
  • The train coasted to a stop in the Addison Street Station platform.
  • It remained there for two minutes, then it was rammed from the rear by train #315.
  • The motorman on train #104 hadn't yet received a reponse from central control when he reported the "blue condition" by the train phone.
    1. 315 was dispatched from the Jefferson Park terminal using manual bypass mode because the cab signal system was out of order. The train phone was also out of order at the time of it's departure.
  • Car availability was low, so #315 dispatched with four-cars instead of six.
  • Trains dispatched from Jefferson Park were running late.
    1. 315 was authorized to depart in bypass mode by the rail service supervisor (dispatcher).
    2. 315 motorman was left with no other tools but his own sight, due to the cab signal system not working and the train phone not working.
  • Addison was not a scheduled stop for #315.
  • As 315 approached the station, the glare of the sun temporarily blinded the motorman; he did not see train 104 stalled at the station. Then the accident happened.

Initial Summary

During the morning rush hour on January 9, 1976, two trains collided at Addison on the Kennedy Extension, in what was the most serious "L" accident up to that time (though unfortunately surpassed just 13 months later). The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) summarized the accident and the probable cause thusly: On January 9, 1976, at 8:06 a.m., Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train No. 315 struck the rear end of train No. 104 while it was standing at the Addison Street Station platform in Chicago, Illinois. The impact forces extensively damaged the lead car of the moving train and the rear car of the standing train, and slightly damaged the other cars in both trains. Damage to the equipment and track was estimated to be $267,000. Of the 381 passengers who were injured in the collision, 1 passenger died. A southbound 'B' train of 2200-series cars, Run 315, struck the rear of an 'A' train of 6000-series cars, Run 104, standing in the Addison station -- at the time, the Addison station was an 'A' station, and so Run 315 would have normally passed through without stopping. The cab signal (automatic train control, or ATC) system was having issues (which had been common on the Kennedy Extension at the time), and Run 315 had bypassed the cab signal system to allow the train to proceed down the line. In addition, some visibility factors existed: while the Addison station is reasonably visible approaching from the previous station (Irving Park) due to the presence of a down-slope between the two stations, just before a train gets to Addison station from Irving Park there is a significant curve. It was also a bright, sunny morning, and glare may have been a factor. The NTSB determined the probable cause: The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the motorman of train No. 315 to perceive standing train No. 104 at a sufficient distance to permit him to stop his train before striking No. 104. Contributing to the collision were the rule that permitted the operation of the train with the automatic train control and the cab signals inoperative, the lack of consistent enforcement of operating rules, the absence of flag protection against following trains, the failure of the train phone system to provide reliable communications, and the violation of the 25-mph speed limit required by Rule 178B. Car 2308, the lead car of the striking train, was seriously damaged and retired, its mate renumbered a paired with another car.

From <https://www.chicago-l.org/mishaps/addison-kennedy.html>

1977 Chicago Loop derailment

"UPI briefs: CTA safety study voted", The Vidette, Fact Sheet

• The motorman was blamed in the incident.
• The crash killed 11 and injured nearly 200.
• Stephen A Martin said he did not see the train in front of him until it was too late.