High and Low in Chicago

[Anonymous]

Here's the high (from BLE site):

Woman gets new scooter; rescuer gets award
(The following article by Brett McNeil was posted on the Chicago Tribune website on March 4.)

CHICAGO -- A 65-year-old woman whose motorized scooter was crushed by an Amtrak train Tuesday only seconds after a stranger pulled her from the tracks has received a new set of wheels, and the man who rushed to help her will be honored by Downers Grove police as a lifesaver.

"I was worried. What was I going to do without my scooter?" said Rosetta Wiedemann, who suffers from diabetes and is unable to walk long distances.

After learning about her rescue from news reports, officials from Broadview-based health-care company DependiCare gave Wiedemann a new champagne-colored scooter worth $3,500 Wednesday.

"This one's a Cadillac; the other one was a Chevy," Wiedemann said Wednesday as she test-drove the machine at her home in a Downers Grove senior citizens building.

Wiedemann said she relied on her scooter for many years to run errands in downtown Downers Grove. In fact, she was going for a loaf of bread about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday when she got stuck on the tracks at a railroad crossing along Main Street.

A front wheel got caught moments before the crossing gates went down to let the train through. Two days out of Los Angeles, Amtrak's Southwest Chief was traveling at speeds up to 70 m.p.h. as it headed for Chicago's Union Station with about 163 people onboard.

With the train closing in, Thomas Rutecki, 55, of Lockport, rushed to help. Unable to free the scooter, he spirited Wiedemann off the tracks just before the train slammed into it.

Downers Grove police on Wednesday announced they will honor Rutecki, who regularly catches a train to work from the Main Street station, with a departmental lifesaving award. The commendation will be presented at a March 25 ceremony.

Despite a flood of attention, including calls from television news producers as far away as New York, Rutecki remained humble about his heroics.

"I'm grateful for [the award] but I don't think they have to do it," he said Wednesday. "A hero to me is a guy who runs into a burning building to save some kids, or the firefighters from 9/11."

"This was just a spur-of-the-moment thing," he said.


And here's the low (from UTU site):

Trainee at controls in Metra fatality

CHICAGO -- Contrary to Metra's earlier statements, a student engineer was operating the Metra train that a 10-year-old boy stepped off of just before he was killed by another train at the River Grove station last week, federal railroad authorities said Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune.
An internal Metra investigation is focusing on whether the student and his instructor, a 30-year Metra veteran, violated procedures by letting passengers off and pulling out of the station instead of waiting for the express train to pass, sources close to the investigation said.

The student and his instructor failed to communicate, as required, with the 68 m.p.h. express train before letting passengers exit, Metra's safety director has said.

The express train struck Michael S. DeLarco, a 5th grader from Schaumburg, on Feb. 23 while he tried to cross the tracks after exiting the eastbound train.

Metra previously identified the engineer on the train to Union Station as the 30-year-veteran, not only omitting the fact that a student was the operator, but also that a student was in the car.

Metra spokeswoman Judith Pardonnet denied the commuter railroad had tried to cover up who was at the controls of the train, and she said the instructor was responsible for all aspects of the train's operation.

"The director of safety was extremely distraught after the accident, and he considers the [30-year] engineer solely responsible for the operation of that train," Pardonnet said. "You asked how many years of service the engineer had, and he answered your question."

Metra confirmed in documents to the Federal Railroad Administration that the student engineer was at the controls, said Warren Flatau, an administration spokesman in Washington.

The student had been transporting passengers for five weeks with supervision and would have been eligible for an engineer's certificate in 14 weeks. He had completed 23 weeks of a 37-week training course that included 10 weeks of operating empty trains, Pardonnet said.

The student and the instructor were side by side in the cab at the front of the Chicago-bound train on Feb. 23, with the student in the engineer's seat on the right side and the instructor across from him, Pardonnet said. The instructor could override the student's actions and control the train, she said.

The crews of both trains have been placed on paid leave pending the investigation, Pardonnet said.

Metra is expected to cite the engineers for violations of rules designed to keep trains at safe distances while pedestrians are crossing over the tracks after exiting trains, sources said.

Much of the inquiry is focused on the student and instructor, including their failure to communicate properly with the other train, the sources said.

Metra officials say that the investigation has not concluded and that it is premature to determine the cause of the accident.

Investigators are piecing together whether the train Michael had just exited with his mother and 8-year-old sister blocked his line of sight to the next set of tracks and how much time he had before the express train reached the River Grove station.

The railroad industry's operating rules require giving a pedestrian at least 20 seconds' warning before a train arrives and a clear sight line of at least 1,320 feet.

Asked whether the minimum warning was provided to the Schaumburg youngster, a source familiar with the accident-reconstruction analysis said "it is a very close time frame" based on data still being analyzed.

The crew of the eastbound train failed to radio the engineer of the other train to ensure passengers could safely cross tracks, Metra safety director Dennis Mogan said the day after the accident.

Under Metra's operating rules, the student or his instructor was required to radio the approaching train to reduce speed so exiting passengers had ample time to clear the tracks, or keep his train in the station with the doors closed until the other train passed, Mogan has said.

Instead, the student engineer flashed his lights to signal he was leaving the station and the other train could proceed at up to 70 m.p.h.

Despite Mogan's report of communication lapses, Metra's management defended the flashing lights as an acceptable alternative to radios.

Officials at the regional office of the Federal Railroad Administration, were still evaluating Metra's operational rules as well as its compliance with the rules and standards set by the Canadian Pacific Railroad, which owns the tracks used by Metra's Milwaukee District West Line.

"Metra told us that the Canadian Pacific's general code for the territory does require radio communication or prohibits one train from entering the station when the other is stopped," Flatau said.

In a somewhat unusual circumstance, Metra was left to investigate its own deadly accident and report the findings to the Federal Railroad Administration after the administration and the National Transportation Safety Board both declined to send investigators.

"The FRA typically investigates incidents in which we believe there is something we can learn. In this case, on the face of it, the cause of the contributing element is largely known," Flatau said. "Railroad operating procedures appear to not have been followed properly."

Pardonnet said a letter notifying all three engineers that they are under investigation was sent this week to the employees and their union.

Meanwhile, Metra officials and a contractor were completing an accident-investigation chronology using tapes of radio transmissions, the event recorders on both locomotives and at the River Grove station, and global-positioning system data.

The information will be integrated to provide a description of events ranging from the separation of the two trains to how many times and when train horns were blown or lights were flashed.

Flatau said the tragedy in River Grove "underscores the importance of pedestrian safety at commuter rail stations."

(This item appeared March 4, 2004, in the Chicago Tribune)

[Anonymous]

How very sad that a young boy lost his life in this accident. [V]

I "feel" for his family and friends. [:(]

And you know the student engineer feels bad too.

What a bad lesson to learn and so early in his career.

[Anonymous]

It's like I have always said, people should not have to cross open rails. A bridge or a tunnel would have prevented this horrible accident.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE:
It's like I have always said, people should not have to cross open rails. A bridge or a tunnel would have prevented this horrible accident.

I was quite suprised that people WERE still crossing open rails. It suprised me that there are stations where people are crossing rails, that could very well be operating "express through" trains at any time. I realize that there are procedures to try and make this practice safe, but as seen in the story above these accidents will happen unless you completely take away the opportunity for it to happen (pedestrian bridges or tunnels or what have you).

In the lower mainland we have the SkyTrain and at no one time in any of the stations are passengers required to cross over the rails on a level basis. Of course when the SkyTrain was built in the '80s this was likely a give-in, and not up for debate.

Surely money is the only factor in up-grading these station, therefore it all comes down to the old argument of "What price can you put on a human life?"

[Anonymous]

Chicagoland is basically flat prairie land. When the RR's came the main use of the land was farming. No need existed for bridge or tunnels. However, with the spread of people to the suburbs, this has become a big problem.

The first time I road the now BNSF West line, I was surprised at the number of grade crossings. To eliminate them ,a bundle of money which I don't know where it would come from, would be needed.

[Anonymous]

I was surprise the lady got a free scooter but for the low they should fire the Enginners and expanded the traning program to 12 months

[TH&B]

I know this is a railroad site but we all live on a fisical planet, but if everyone could watch themselves from speeding to walking/driving in front of a train/auto to falling off a cliff and drowning and everything in between ..... I'm niether a fireman nor terrorist and I may or may NOT play hero, pal (or lady).