The 1972 Chicago Train Collision 50 Years Later

[Music] foreign [Music] on October 30th 1972 one of the worst train accidents in the history of Chicago would occur at a small station a brand new train set gets demolished by an ancient one during the morning Rush Hour it would also proved to be one of the most insane accidents in the history of commuter railroading [Music] the accident took place on the Illinois Central Gulf railroad Chicago division which was opened on July 21st 1856 being one of the first commuter Services outside the major metropolitan areas of the Northeastern United States running from Great Central Station now Millennium Station to Hyde Park originally steam powered the line was electrified in 1926 powered by heavyweight Pullman emu's built between 1924-1926. the IC electric was once Chicago's busiest Suburban Railroad and carried a great deal of Passenger traffic within the city as well as to Suburban communities the three lines carried 26 million passengers in 1927 the First full year of electrified operation ridership would rise to 35 million in 1929 and reach an all-time peak of 47 million in 1946. by the 1970s though the Pullmans were beginning to show their age and once again pasture numbers were pretty high the Illinois Central looked to purchase newer cars but they wanted something a little different enter the highliners one of the first double decker emu's ever built they more than doubled the Pullmans in terms of capacity carrying over 156 passengers maximum per car and can run much faster with a top speed of 80 miles an hour the cars were numbered 1501 to 1630 being built by the St Louis car company the cars will be put into service in 1971 having a rather clean record until one day everything would change October 30th 1972 it was a rather cloudy chilly and foggy morning and rush hour was in full swing Illinois Central commuter train number 416 was traveling Northbound toward downtown Chicago making stops at every station along the line including a flag stop at 27th Street Station the train consisted of four new highliner cars the rare one being number 1509 the numbers of the other three cars is unknown it departed South Chicago station at around 706 am behind them another train Illinois Central 720 and express also traveling north to downtown Chicago had departed nine minutes after 416 consisting of six older Pullman emu's the numbers of all the cars are unknown train 416 made all the necessary train stops between South Chicago and 53rd Street and at each stop the breaks appear to be working fine as the train passed 31st Street the conductor announced that the next stop was 27th Street the flag stopped according to the engineer's post-accident testimony he estimated the train was traveling at around 62 miles an hour upon hitting the brakes for the station this proved to be too fast as the highliners overshot the platform and when the train finally stopped the rear car 1509 was about 600 feet north of the platform and 400 feet North from the nearby signal the conductor walked toward the 1509 and gave permission to his engineer to start reversing back into the station at around 5 to 15 miles an hour while the train was reversing the conductor remained in the center vestibule maintaining contact with the engineer about how much further he needed to go and leaned out the east side of the train looking back but had to pull his head back in as train 718 passed by meanwhile 720 was fast approaching and was switched on to track 3 after 67th Street the very same track 416 was still reversing on the engineer of 720 stated in a post-accident testimony they had already started slowing down since he was expecting to see train 16 at any moment leaving the station little did he know 416 was literally right in front of him going backwards on the same track and when he finally saw the train he blew his horn and alarm before diving out of the cab yelling at the passengers to brace themselves for an imminent crash the Collision was devastating the lead car of 7020 telescoped into the rear highliner 1509 a phenomenon that was once common in the 19th and early 20th century when Passenger cars were still mostly made of wood not heavyweight steel like these cars train 718 consisting of eight heavyweight Pullman emu's which was pacing just ahead of 720 on the adjacent track number four was also hit by some of the flying debris of the Collision as the rear car was hit but it didn't derail when news of the crash spread a three-alarm fire call was issued for the incident and all the available ambulances in the area were dispatched to the scene along with fire Crews thankfully response time was quick as 27th Street Station directly serves the Michael Reese Hospital located only a hundred yards away Dr Edward Goldberg a surgeon from the hospital later quoted human limbs were hanging out the windows there was just one 22 year old fellow whose Hearts stopped but he was revived about the only thing doctors and nurses could do at the scene was apply targets and splits and give sedatives the station platform was turned into an outdoor hospital as Rescuers descended on the scene to free victims and treat the injuries it took over six hours for 240 firefighters to finally remove both the dead and the injured from the two trains which had over a thousand passengers combined in total 45 people died 332 were injured people were confused though how could these two trains Collide did one of them miss a signal new car train that I was on went past 27th and he had passengers to get off but apparently they overshot the platform he like it's only a flag stop you see and unless they tell them they won't stop where somebody must have raised their hand at the last minute or something because we overshot the platform by about 15 feet right now this ambulance is you know going in front of me now and uh all kind of fire equipment and uh they're coming back and forth like a parade one half a car is completely demolished and there's people screaming and you know people walking around with blood on them and it'll revealed bad then all of a sudden I was I was not even sitting in the seat I was sitting on my eye on the iron steps that they had because it was so crowded and then all of a sudden it was like a thunder and lightning and a crashing doors and windows and bars started falling the train next I was in the next train yeah I could see that they were just jammed in and crushed in and many of them were killed and another and on my train across from me there was a man like with a bar across his neck ready to be chopped off shouting for help and they were all bleeding and I was sitting surrounded with glass and bars and doors and uh I don't know they pulled that away from the help came and they pulled me out and had Academy over the banister and I got off on 27th Street the NTSB was launched to investigate the crash when they got on scene they realized this accident was very similar to another accident two years prior on September 8 1970 an Illinois Central yard train led by sw7 1218 collided with an Indiana Harbor belt yard train led by NW2 8717 at Riverdale Illinois the Collision occurred when the Illinois central train was reversing under restricting signal and automatic block signaling territory and the harbor belt train didn't see them until it was too late one of the main probable causes of that accident was the crew of the Illinois central train did not properly give protection upon reversing their train it became quickly clear this accident at 27th Street was almost a repeat of that accident and that the lessons and recommendations from the incident in 1970 had gone ignored however just like all accidents they're caused by a chain of critical events that lead to disaster first the overrun now overrunning the platforms that wasn't a new thing on the Illinois Central nor on other railroads in fact they sometimes still happen on today's railroads although it is quite rare overruns especially happen not long after the highliners were put into service due to Crews still getting familiar with the new cars there was also an overrun buzzer in the cab so that the engineer can let the conductor know about the upcoming overrun these overruns though were pretty minor often not exceeding one full car length but this was different the entire train set had overrun the platform that alone was unusual it's likely in this case the engineer who was running train 416 for the first time being used to other trains he had been scheduled on had completely forgotten about the Flagstop at 27th Street Station and applied the brakes too late overshooting the platform second as train 416 backed up the conductor had to stand in the center vestibule of the rear of the car in order to operate the intercom to the engineer although rules don't state where on the rear a train image should stand during a reverse move it's quite obvious you'd have to have a clear view of the rear end of the train even if he had the view the location of the various controls would have interfered to some degree with him carrying out his job the conductor's door control in intercom were located across the vestibule from the emergency brake cord if people were standing in the aisle he'd have difficulty reaching that valve if needed to make matters worse the conductor didn't take any of the equipment necessary to initiate flagged protection to reverse his train after passing a previously vacated signal block protection requires the train crew to grab flags and or light flares at a certain distance to gain protection as they reverse their train so that the other traffic can spot the flares and proceed to slow down or stop looking for the other train lack of flagged protection had led to several accidents in the last century of American railroading now why didn't he take the equipment well because management at Illinois Central failed to supply them nor properly train the crews on such a task as the incident Crews and other train Crews testified how they didn't fully understand such rules on flag protection and even mistook some signal aspects for example a lot of the train crewmen didn't address the speed restriction necessary when passing a yellow signal as you're supposed to slow down to at least 30 miles an hour upon passing one instead of maintaining track speed now we're not done stationed overruns and short backing movements without flag protection when it was required were addressed but either ignored or forgotten about by supervisors of the Illinois Central some of them just flat out accepting it as it is the acceptance of such things led to the unprotected reverse move without flag protection and of course not supplying Crews with proper tools for flagged protection here's a question how could the crew of trains 720 not see the train ahead the highlighters were quite large after all did he miss a signal or something the answer such a question was yes and no now I know that sounds confusing so let me explain the signals were all tested and indeed they were working as intended although there is no prescribed sight distance for a train approaching a signal the visibility of at least one of the signals signal 3-3.10 was indeed a factor of the crash as it was partly obstructed by a walkway that crossed over the tracks defeating the purpose of the signal because he couldn't see it furthermore the engineer did not comply with the next signal that being signal 3-3.60 the signals both being color aspect types displayed yellow meaning caution train ahead prepare to stop at the next signal but the engineer didn't show much concern as he knew he had a train ahead of him being 416 but he assumed it was already leaving the station and was following up on it so he didn't bother slowing down to at least 30 miles an hour as the signal told him to instead that said train was reversing backward into the station toward him it is also very highly likely that as train 416 was reversing back into the block it had overran it was at the exact same time train 720 had passed the approach signal otherwise it would have shown a stop aspect and he would have to stop his train had the Pullman's been traveling at 30 miles an hour not 60 miles an hour they would have had more than enough time to stop before even touching the rear of the highliner furthermore the reverse movements of trains into previously vacated signal box was incompatible with the short scheduled two to three minute headways between the trains and the time required to initiate flag protection should it be needed normal and logical procedures of when trains fully overrun a platform was often believe it or not just continue to the next station especially after overrunning a signal block on top of the station others would have passengers that wanted to de-board walk back toward the rear of the train and let others get on Via the rear and finally going back to the cars themselves it was found the Pullmans lacked a speedometer of all things the Highlanders had them but some including the one on the lead highliner had a tendency to not work correctly as for how the engineer could have missed the highliners both the Pullmans and highliners had dark liveries with the front of the highliners being completely black this likely camouflaged the cars from the station platform in the overcast dull morning especially since the red marker lights weren't able to stand out enough but at least the operator was able to warn of the impending Collision when he finally spotted the highliners seconds before impact had it been night time as well as with thick fog he probably would have completely missed the highliners hitting the cars at full force resulting in many more casualties the last thing that NTSB took in note was the car designs both the highliners and Pullmans had a heavy under frame the under frames designed to withstand coupling shocks carried couplings at each end so enjoying they'd prevent override in a collision when they collided they indeed worked as intended but the coupler on the Pullmans was displaced downward due to the car being a little bit shorter and the trucks being on the loose side breaking the coupling carrier and causing the car to rise up ever so slightly and Telescope into the highliner results again lots of deaths in both cars in fact the majority of the fatalities were in the rear highliner 1509 which was described in reports as almost being sawed in half this was also because of the poor design of the cars the Collision post failed because of the incomplete Fusion between the plates and the under frame from one side causing the car to literally crumple more and the telescoping only made the situation worse the Highlanders poor crash worthiness in such a collision proved to be a deadly factor in the crash not to mention both designs clearly failed in a collision where the cars were not of the same type foreign to be fair it is hard to determine how a car will stand up without ample crash testing features and every crash is different but it really does make you think as a result of the ntsb's findings they recommended Illinois Central reevaluate its training and policies to ensure Crews not only follow their own safety protocols but also Supply them with the tools they need to follow such protocols the accident also led to all the Pullman cars and the highliners to receive repaints both the Pullmans and highliners have both ends of the cars changed from black to Orange to better distinguish the ends of the cars and allow for better spotting and adverse weather the orange also complemented the colors of the company's Freight rolling stock very nicely the only cars to not receive this was High Liner 1509 and the lead Pullman carve trained 720 as both were scrapped after the accident due to significant damage the other car is not to be repainted were two other Pullmans numbered 1198 and 1380 as they were donated to the Illinois router Museum the same year the accident took place in 1972. the rest of the Pullmans would be retired sometime around 1980 as for the highliners it'd have a pretty uneventful career with Illinois Central and will be joined by more highliners in 1978 through 1979 numbered 1631-166. this time though being built by a bombardier not St Louis and then they were handed over to the Regional Transportation authority who formed Metra in 1983. Metra inherited the cars when they took over the Illinois Central's electrified service in 1987 branding it as the Metra Electric line the cars would continue in service with Metro eventually even being repainted until finally being retired in 2016 being replaced by newer double-decker emu's built by the Japanese firm Nippon shiru from 2005 to 2006 and again with a second batch from 2012 to 2016. funny enough the new cars look almost exactly the same as the double decker coaches found all across the rest of Metro's system approximately 24 of the highliners survived today as Metro donated them to museums including the previously mentioned Illinois's railroad museum while the rest were sent away for scrap as for 27th Street Station while it still exists serving passengers as of today the Michael Reese Hospital does not it was closed for Good on August 31st 2009 and subsequently demolished by October 2013. while being one of the darkest days in American railroad history the Collision while largely overshadowed by other devastating accidents will certainly live on in the memories of those that were there that day when all hell broke loose on that fateful morning [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions

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Id: 5fDdPF9ya0I

Length: 23min 44sec (1424 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 30 2022