Nearly 1 year after a CTA Yellow Line train crash left dozens injured, a report says the operator behind the controls of the train at the time had alcohol in their system
According to the updated report, blood testing done at an area hospital following the crash detected a blood alcohol content of 0.06, above the legal limit of 0.02 for train operators.
The report states that the hospital test is an "unconfirmed clinical test" with results that are not intended for use in legal purposes.
A urine test performed later that day detected only substances that had been administered to the operator after the crash, which was verified by review of post-crash medical records.
The crash occurred at around 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 16, 2023, when a southbound Yellow Line train collided with a snow removal machine, injuring 38 people.
At the time of the crash, the sun was out, conditions were clear and there was no precipitation, the report said.
The track the train was operating one was considered a "double main track" and the location of the accident has a signal system that operates with a stopping distance of 1,780 feet or less. The maximum allowed train speed was 55 mph at the time.
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"The passenger train was on a scheduled trip from Dempster Skokie Station to Howard Station. 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 states. "Shortly before the collision, the southbound snow removal machine stopped about 370 feet north of a red signal indication. The passenger train was traveling southbound about 54 mph when the operator received a stop command from the signal system because of the snow removal machine stopped on the track about 2,150 feet ahead. The operator immediately initiated a full service braking application to stop the train. The operator then saw the snow removal machine and initiated an emergency braking application. The train decelerated to about 27 mph before striking the snow removal machine," an initial NTSB report released in December 2023 said.
According to the NTSB, the brake system on the train was designed to slow trains at about 4.1 feet per second squared under such conditions.
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The report noted that investigators took samples of "organic material from the top surface of the rails at the accident site" and said future investigation activity will focus on "the design and configuration of the CTA signal system, the design and braking performance of the railcars involved in the accident, and examination of organic material present on top of the running rails investigators collected to determine what impact, if any, this material had on the accident."
The organic material has been in question since the investigation began, along with a "design problem" with the train's braking system.
According to preliminary data obtained from the event recorder, the train was traveling at 26.9 miles per hour when it stuck the snow equipment.
"We know that CTA's system saw the snow equipment ahead," Jennifer Homendy, chair of NTSB said last month. "It was supposed to be there. They knew it was going to be there. We also know from our calculations this train on this day was designed to stop within 1,780 feet... it didn't. So now we needed to determine why."
Preliminary findings suggested debris was present at the time and the train wasn't able to stop in time due to the agency's braking system.
