Latest news with #SkokieSwift
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Tribune files lawsuit against CTA for failing to turn over documents related to 2023 Yellow Line crash, among other FOIA requests
The Chicago Tribune is suing the Chicago Transit Authority for allegedly violating the Freedom of Information Act after the transit agency failed to turn over records related to the 2023 Yellow Line crash, among other requests. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, cites six FOIA requests made by Tribune reporter Sarah Freishtat over 14 months in which the CTA did not respond promptly, fully or at all. 'The CTA has engaged in a pattern of violating FOIA, requesting extensions of time in response to the Tribune's proper FOIA requests, then failing to produce the requested records, which reflects a complete disregard of its obligation to provide public records,' the lawsuit states. A CTA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Friday. The first of the six FOIA requests was made Dec. 22, 2023, seeking correspondence between the CTA and federal and state transportation agencies after the Yellow Line crash, which happened one month earlier. In the November 2023 incident, a Yellow Line train, also known as the Skokie Swift, hit a snowplow on the tracks while approaching the Howard station in Chicago, injuring two dozen passengers and causing $8.7 million in damage. Under the state's Freedom of Information Act, public agencies have up to 10 days to comply with or deny an information request. They may also ask for additional time to compile and provide complex records. The CTA took until July 2024 — nearly seven months later — to come up with a 'partial response' to the Yellow Line request, providing communication records related to the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Transit Administration. However, Freishtat never received promised information regarding the CTA's communications with the Illinois Department of Transportation, according to the lawsuit. In addition, the CTA has failed to fully comply with subsequent FOIA requests, including overtime spending, use of CTA vehicles by agency officials, and personnel records of employees involved in the Yellow Line crash. The most recent request was submitted Jan. 13 seeking all severance payments made to CTA President Dorval Carter, who announced he was stepping down at the end of January. The request was extended to Jan. 28, but the CTA has yet to provide the information, according to the lawsuit. This is the fifth lawsuit brought against the CTA in the last year for failure to comply with its FOIA obligations, including one by the Chicago Sun-Times. In recent years, the Tribune has prevailed in several lawsuits against the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department for failing to comply with FOIA requests made by reporters. The lawsuit against the CTA is seeking to compel the transit agency to promptly produce all requested non-exempt records, without charging processing fees, as well as awarding the Tribune attorneys' fees and costs. rchannick@
Chicago Tribune
28-02-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Tribune files lawsuit against CTA for failing to turn over documents related to 2023 Yellow Line crash, among other FOIA requests
The Chicago Tribune is suing the Chicago Transit Authority for allegedly violating the Freedom of Information Act after the transit agency failed to turn over records related to the 2023 Yellow Line crash, among other requests. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, cites six FOIA requests made by Tribune reporter Sarah Freishtat over 14 months in which the CTA did not respond promptly, fully or at all. 'The CTA has engaged in a pattern of violating FOIA, requesting extensions of time in response to the Tribune's proper FOIA requests, then failing to produce the requested records, which reflects a complete disregard of its obligation to provide public records,' the lawsuit states. A CTA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Friday. The first of the six FOIA requests was made Dec. 22, 2023, seeking correspondence between the CTA and federal and state transportation agencies after the Yellow Line crash, which happened one month earlier. In the November 2023 incident, a Yellow Line train, also known as the Skokie Swift, hit a snowplow on the tracks while approaching the Howard station in Chicago, injuring two dozen passengers and causing $8.7 million in damage. Under the state's Freedom of Information Act, public agencies have up to 10 days to comply with or deny an information request. They may also ask for additional time to compile and provide complex records. The CTA took until July 2024 — nearly seven months later — to come up with a 'partial response' to the Yellow Line request, providing communication records related to the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Transit Administration. However, Freishtat never received promised information regarding the CTA's communications with the Illinois Department of Transportation, according to the lawsuit. In addition, the CTA has failed to fully comply with subsequent FOIA requests, including overtime spending, use of CTA vehicles by agency officials, and personnel records of employees involved in the Yellow Line crash. The most recent request was submitted Jan. 13 seeking all severance payments made to CTA President Dorval Carter, who announced he was stepping down at the end of January. The request was extended to Jan. 28, but the CTA has yet to provide the information, according to the lawsuit. This is the fifth lawsuit brought against the CTA in the last year for failure to comply with its FOIA obligations, including one by the Chicago Sun-Times. In recent years, the Tribune has prevailed in several lawsuits against the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department for failing to comply with FOIA requests made by reporters. The lawsuit against the CTA is seeking to compel the transit agency to promptly produce all requested non-exempt records, without charging processing fees, as well as awarding the Tribune attorneys' fees and costs.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Yahoo
NTSB Yellow Line crash report finds CTA disabled a braking feature, contributing to collision
A federal investigation into a CTA Yellow Line crash has found the transit agency disabled one automatic braking feature on the popular model of railcar involved, contributing to the 2023 collision. The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the crash, dated the end of January, determined other factors also contributed to the crash, including the need to suddenly slow the train from the speed limit of 55 miles per hour to a complete stop. So did the presence of crushed leaves and plants, which made the rails slippery and likely worsened sliding of the train wheels, the NTSB found. Earlier in the investigation the NTSB found the operator of the train had alcohol in his system after the crash, violating federal rules, though federal officials said at the time they did not believe the operator's action contributed to the crash. In the final report the NTSB again reiterated the operator responded quickly to a signal command to stop the train and determined, 'It is unlikely that effects of ethanol contributed to the collision.' The operator remains on leave from the CTA, and the agency has not made a final determination about the status of his employment. The report comes more than a year after the Nov. 16, 2023, crash, and marks the completion of the NTSB's investigation. A train on the Yellow Line, also known as the Skokie Swift, hit a snowplow that was on the tracks for scheduled training, injuring some two dozen passengers and CTA employees including the train operator. The crash caused an estimated $8.7 million in damages, and left the train line closed for seven weeks as the CTA worked to ensure the safety of the trains that carry commuters between Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood and Skokie. The operator, approaching the Howard station on his third trip from Skokie that day, received a command from CTA's signal system to stop the train because of an object on the tracks ahead. The operator applied brakes one second later, and when he saw the snowplow ahead of him he hit the emergency brakes, the NTSB found. But, under the 'aggressive braking' required to suddenly stop the train the railcars slid, and the train slowed only to 23 miles per hour before it slammed into the snowplow. The crash involved 5000-series train cars, which is the CTA's most common model. The cars have three types of brakes, and when the system designed to prevent the wheels from sliding kicked in, two types of brakes were automatically activated but not the third. The CTA had deactivated the third type of brake from automatically kicking in during wheel slides on such train models during testing in 2009, the NTSB determined. At the time, the CTA determined the wheel-slide protection system tended to continuously use the third type of brake, which could cause frequent braking and discomfort for passengers. The decision left the use of the third type of brake up to the operator, the NTSB said. 'If the wheel slide protection system had been set to automatically apply the (third type of) track brakes when wheel slide was first detected, the train likely would have decelerated more quickly, reducing the severity of the accident or preventing the collision altogether,' the NTSB found. The CTA had inspected the tracks the day of the crash without finding 'defects or unusual conditions,' the NTSB report noted. But the federal agency also said the CTA's inspections before the crash did not include checking for leaves or material buildup and the CTA did not clean the rails and did not apply sand. 'If CTA had cleaned the rails or taken steps to increase rail adhesion, the train's wheel slide would have been less pronounced, likely preventing or reducing the severity of the collision,' the NTSB report said. Since the crash, the CTA lowered maximum speeds on the Yellow Line from 55 miles per hour to 35 to limit the possibility of having to suddenly bring a train to a complete stop from the higher speed, and reconfigured its system to get rid of all places where a train might have to suddenly stop from 55 miles per hour. The agency enabled the automatic use of the third type of brake on 5000-series railcars, the NTSB said, and cleaned the Yellow Line rails. The agency also issued reminders to employees on best practices for operating trains when tracks are slippery, and changed its track inspector training to include information about buildup on rails, according to the NTSB. The CTA described measures it took after the crash as 'proactive and precautionary.' 'Throughout the course of the NTSB investigation, which is now complete, the CTA was fully cooperative and assisted federal investigators, while also conducting its own testing of equipment and procedures,' agency officials said in a statement. 'While the investigation was ongoing, CTA pre-emptively implemented several new measures for added safety along the Yellow Line which have already addressed the contributing factors outlined in the final NTSB brief.' Early in the investigation, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the agency was investigating the train line's 1970s-era signal system, which controls how trains move and the distance in which they stop. The NTSB was also investigating braking systems, residue from organic material on the tracks — such as leaves — and other factors, she previously said. In the final report, the NTSB determined that under ideal conditions the train could stop within the distance designed by the signal system, which was 1,780 feet. But investigators could not replicate the conditions during the crash, which were not ideal. Braking on the train began farther out than the 1,780 feet intended for ideal conditions. Nearly a decade before the Yellow Line crash, the NTSB investigated a 2014 crash in which a Blue Line train pulling into the O'Hare International Airport station crashed through a barrier at the end of the tracks and landed on top of an escalator. The NTSB recommended after that collision that the CTA install a more robust type of train control system. Among the changes included with that more robust type of control is stopping a train before it passes a signal, while the CTA's current system kicks in once a train passes a signal, Homendy has previously said. The Federal Transit Administration has not mandated that public transit systems adopt the more robust type of train control system, and the CTA has previously estimated it would cost nearly $2.5 billion. The NTSB did not issue safety recommendations for the CTA as a result of the Yellow Line crash.
Chicago Tribune
12-02-2025
- Chicago Tribune
NTSB Yellow Line crash report finds CTA disabled a braking feature, contributing to collision
A federal investigation into a CTA Yellow Line crash has found the transit agency disabled one automatic braking feature on the popular model of railcar involved, contributing to the 2023 collision. The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the crash, dated the end of January, determined other factors also contributed to the crash, including the need to suddenly slow the train from the speed limit of 55 miles per hour to a complete stop. So did the presence of crushed leaves and plants, which made the rails slippery and likely worsened sliding of the train wheels, the NTSB found. Earlier in the investigation the NTSB found the operator of the train had alcohol in his system after the crash, violating federal rules, though federal officials said at the time they did not believe the operator's action contributed to the crash. In the final report the NTSB again reiterated the operator responded quickly to a signal command to stop the train and determined, 'It is unlikely that effects of ethanol contributed to the collision.' The operator remains on leave from the CTA, and the agency has not made a final determination about the status of his employment. The report comes more than a year after the Nov. 16, 2023, crash, and marks the completion of the NTSB's investigation. A train on the Yellow Line, also known as the Skokie Swift, hit a snowplow that was on the tracks for scheduled training, injuring some two dozen passengers and CTA employees including the train operator. The crash caused an estimated $8.7 million in damages, and left the train line closed for seven weeks as the CTA worked to ensure the safety of the trains that carry commuters between Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood and Skokie. The operator, approaching the Howard station on his third trip from Skokie that day, received a command from CTA's signal system to stop the train because of an object on the tracks ahead. The operator applied brakes one second later, and when he saw the snowplow ahead of him he hit the emergency brakes, the NTSB found. But, under the 'aggressive braking' required to suddenly stop the train the railcars slid, and the train slowed only to 23 miles per hour before it slammed into the snowplow. The crash involved 5000-series train cars, which is the CTA's most common model. The cars have three types of brakes, and when the system designed to prevent the wheels from sliding kicked in, two types of brakes were automatically activated but not the third. The CTA had deactivated the third type of brake from automatically kicking in during wheel slides on such train models during testing in 2009, the NTSB determined. At the time, the CTA determined the wheel-slide protection system tended to continuously use the third type of brake, which could cause frequent braking and discomfort for passengers. The decision left the use of the third type of brake up to the operator, the NTSB said. 'If the wheel slide protection system had been set to automatically apply the (third type of) track brakes when wheel slide was first detected, the train likely would have decelerated more quickly, reducing the severity of the accident or preventing the collision altogether,' the NTSB found. The CTA had inspected the tracks the day of the crash without finding 'defects or unusual conditions,' the NTSB report noted. But the federal agency also said the CTA's inspections before the crash did not include checking for leaves or material buildup and the CTA did not clean the rails and did not apply sand. 'If CTA had cleaned the rails or taken steps to increase rail adhesion, the train's wheel slide would have been less pronounced, likely preventing or reducing the severity of the collision,' the NTSB report said. Since the crash, the CTA lowered maximum speeds on the Yellow Line from 55 miles per hour to 35 to limit the possibility of having to suddenly bring a train to a complete stop from the higher speed, and reconfigured its system to get rid of all places where a train might have to suddenly stop from 55 miles per hour. The agency enabled the automatic use of the third type of brake on 5000-series railcars, the NTSB said, and cleaned the Yellow Line rails. The agency also issued reminders to employees on best practices for operating trains when tracks are slippery, and changed its track inspector training to include information about buildup on rails, according to the NTSB. The CTA described measures it took after the crash as 'proactive and precautionary.' 'Throughout the course of the NTSB investigation, which is now complete, the CTA was fully cooperative and assisted federal investigators, while also conducting its own testing of equipment and procedures,' agency officials said in a statement. 'While the investigation was ongoing, CTA pre-emptively implemented several new measures for added safety along the Yellow Line which have already addressed the contributing factors outlined in the final NTSB brief.' Early in the investigation, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the agency was investigating the train line's 1970s-era signal system, which controls how trains move and the distance in which they stop. The NTSB was also investigating braking systems, residue from organic material on the tracks — such as leaves — and other factors, she previously said. In the final report, the NTSB determined that under ideal conditions the train could stop within the distance designed by the signal system, which was 1,780 feet. But investigators could not replicate the conditions during the crash, which were not ideal. Braking on the train began farther out than the 1,780 feet intended for ideal conditions. Nearly a decade before the Yellow Line crash, the NTSB investigated a 2014 crash in which a Blue Line train pulling into the O'Hare International Airport station crashed through a barrier at the end of the tracks and landed on top of an escalator. The NTSB recommended after that collision that the CTA install a more robust type of train control system. Among the changes included with that more robust type of control is stopping a train before it passes a signal, while the CTA's current system kicks in once a train passes a signal, Homendy has previously said. The Federal Transit Administration has not mandated that public transit systems adopt the more robust type of train control system, and the CTA has previously estimated it would cost nearly $2.5 billion. The NTSB did not issue safety recommendations for the CTA as a result of the Yellow Line crash.
