From the Chicago Tribune website:
Emergency vehicles stage at Adams and Canal after train strike at Union Station. (Scott Kleinberg/Tribune)
9:20 a.m. CDT, June 3, 2011
At least five people have been taken to hospitals after a Metra train and an Amtrak train were involved in a low-speed collision at Union Station this morning, a Fire Department spokesman said. An Emergency Medical Services Plan 2 was called around 8:30 a.m., sending at least 10 ambulances to the scene. The accident happened at the south end of the station, between tracks 2 and 4, Metra officials said. An inbound express Metra Burlington Northern train No. 1242 from Aurora coming into Union Station on Track 2 hit a stopped train, said passenger Kirk Musselman. He estimated the Metra train was going about 5 mph. "There were blown widows, blown glass" on his car, which was the fourth or fifth car back on the train, he said. He said the corner of his car and perhaps one or two others hit the parked train on a track alongside. Musselman said he suffered a knee injury and some other passengers were hurt.
Another passenger, Matt Sink, said he was in one of the last cars of the Metra train when there was a "real big jolt."
"It's kind of like a movie," he told WGN Radio, with helicopters overhead and fire trucks surrounding the station and firefighters going through the cars. "It was just an ordinary Friday, I was reading the paper, then a real big jolt." function showExtras(elm, link, text){ var obj = $(elm); var link = $(link); var elmTop = (obj.getHeight() + 10) * (-1); if(obj.style.display == 'none'){ obj.style.top = elmTop + "px"; link.innerHTML = 'Hide more ' + text + ' »'; new Effect.Parallel([ new Effect.Move(obj, { sync: true, x: link.getWidth(), y: (obj.getHeight() + 10) * (-1), mode: 'absolute' }), new Effect.AppearItems(obj, { sync: true, from: 0, to: 1}) ], { duration: 1 }); } else { new Effect.Parallel([ new Effect.Move(obj, { sync: true, x: link.getWidth() * (-1), y: 0, mode: 'absoulte' }), new Effect.FadeItems(obj, { sync: true, from: 1, to: 0 }) ], { duration: 1 }); link.innerHTML = 'See more ' + text + ' »'; } } // These are customized methods b/c the scriptaculous ones where throwing error. These should be re-evaluated at a later date. Effect.FadeItems = function(element) { element = $(element); var oldOpacity = 0; var options = Object.extend({ from: element.getOpacity() || 1.0, to: 0.0, afterFinishInternal: function(effect) { if (effect.options.to!=0) return; effect.element.hide().setStyle({opacity: oldOpacity}); } }, arguments[1] || { }); return new Effect.Opacity(element,options); }; Effect.AppearItems = function(element) { element = $(element); var options = Object.extend({ from: (element.getStyle('display') == 'none' ? 0.0 : element.getOpacity() || 0.0), to: 1.0, // force Safari to render floated elements properly afterFinishInternal: function(effect) { if(Prototype.Browser.WebKit) { effect.element.forceRerendering(); } }, beforeSetup: function(effect) { effect.element.setOpacity(effect.options.from).show(); }}, arguments[1] || { }); return new Effect.Opacity(element,options); };
But Sink said he didn't realize his train had struck another until his wife texted him. "I have not seen any serious injuries," he said.
Metra spokesman Tom Miller said the Burlington Northern train was due in at 8:15 a.m.
BrianLM007 "There were blown widows, blown glass" on his car, which was the fourth or fifth car back on the train, he said. He said the corner of his car and perhaps one or two others hit the parked train on a track alongside.
"There were blown widows, blown glass" on his car, which was the fourth or fifth car back on the train, he said. He said the corner of his car and perhaps one or two others hit the parked train on a track alongside.
If car hit parked train on adjacent track maybe METRA train split a switch?? Sideswipe raises all sorts of questions?? Not enough facts yet???
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-fire-crews-respond-to-union-station-derailment-report-20110603,0,2453199.story
The Amtrak train struck was a southbound CHI-Carbondale train, #391, the Saluki.
Still delays for evening rush. Fortunately this was low speed and nobody was seriously hurt. Just another in what seems like a lot of accidents lately. edblysard seems to think the numbers are small compared to the number of daily/yearly trains (on the rear end accident thread). What would be an interesting stat is comparing accident rates per train run by year, by railroad and across several other nations.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-fire-crews-respond-to-union-station-derailment-report-20110603,0,2453199.story The Amtrak train struck was a southbound CHI-Carbondale train, #391, the Saluki. Still delays for evening rush. Fortunately this was low speed and nobody was seriously hurt. Just another in what seems like a lot of accidents lately. edblysard seems to think the numbers are small compared to the number of daily/yearly trains (on the rear end accident thread). What would be an interesting stat is comparing accident rates per train run by year, by railroad and across several other nations.
Schlimm,
The FRA website has a lot of yearly accident statistics by railroad, as well as reports on specific incidents: <http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/> I have never seen any comparative stats. However, you could get a rough idea by comparing annual ton-miles-per-railroad with the number of total accidents. Even then, not all accidents are of the same type or magnitude.
John Timm
Thanks for the info. As i stated on another thread, accidents per million train miles or even worse, per ton-miles, distorts the prevalence of accidents, and favors long haul freights on Western lines, especially ones with heavy tonnage in tow. To some extent, the tonnage and even distance of a given run are irrelevant.
A train mile is a train mile, no matter the territory and each mile has equivalent dangers associated with it. The two most recent incidents we have been discussing occurred on relatively speaking 'wide open territory' where miles can accrue quickly.
schlimm Thanks for the info. As i stated on another thread, accidents per million train miles or even worse, per ton-miles, distorts the prevalence of accidents, and favors long haul freights on Western lines, especially ones with heavy tonnage in tow. To some extent, the tonnage and even distance of a given run are irrelevant.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD A train mile is a train mile, no matter the territory and each mile has equivalent dangers associated with it. The two most recent incidents we have been discussing occurred on relatively speaking 'wide open territory' where miles can accrue quickly. schlimm: Thanks for the info. As i stated on another thread, accidents per million train miles or even worse, per ton-miles, distorts the prevalence of accidents, and favors long haul freights on Western lines, especially ones with heavy tonnage in tow. To some extent, the tonnage and even distance of a given run are irrelevant.
schlimm: Thanks for the info. As i stated on another thread, accidents per million train miles or even worse, per ton-miles, distorts the prevalence of accidents, and favors long haul freights on Western lines, especially ones with heavy tonnage in tow. To some extent, the tonnage and even distance of a given run are irrelevant.
Yes and to some (only some, mind you) extent a train run 40 miles is equivalent to one run 1000 miles (the two trains involved in this collision). If some type of "incident" occurs on both, the one running 1000 miles appears safer than the first, if you only use the accidents per million train-miles statistic. We know it was not and thus the statistic is a bit misleading. That is why I think having both statistics would be helpful.
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