No reopening date set for CTA Yellow Line, seven weeks after crash
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's nicknamed the Skokie Swift, but the process of it getting the CTA Yellow Line back online after a November crash has been awfully slow.
A CTA spokesperson said Wednesday the agency still has not set a reopening date for the Yellow Line.
Train service has been suspended for 48 days, after an inbound train crashed into snow removal equipment which was stopped on the track on Nov. 16.
The crash caused an estimated $8.7 million in damages to CTA equipment and left dozens of people injured.
Meantime, shuttle buses have been running in place of the Yellow Line trains from the Howard Station to Skokie. The free service was designed to mirror the rail service with similar trip times.
When Yellow Line trains are back up and running, their top speed will come down.
The CTA is dropping the maximum speed of Yellow Line trains from 55 mph to 35 mph. It is one of the safety measures the CTA announced last month after the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on the crash last month.
The CTA is also slowing trains to 25 mph in the area where the crash took place – where trains exit a below-grade trench that runs through southern Evanston, and follow a sharp curve as they proceed onto a stretch of open track in the Howard rail yard.
The CTA has also expanded cleaning of the rails, and will have CTA supervisors accompany Yellow Line train operators whenever the line reopens.
The NTSB's preliminary report on the crash stated the Yellow Line train that crashed in November was going 54 mph when the operator received a stop command because the snow plow was less than half a mile ahead.
When the operator saw the machine, they hit the brakes and the emergency brakes, but the train didn't stop in time, hitting the snow plow at 27 mph. The train's event recorder showed a system designed to reduce wheel sliding on the train activated throughout both braking operations, but that wasn't enough to stop the train before the crash.
The NTSB said previously that a "design flaw" was to likely to blame for the accident – noting that the signal system on the Yellow Line was configured to allow for a stopping distance of 1,780 feet, while the current guideline is a stopping distance of 2,745 feet.
Trains are configured to take a certain amount of distance to stop. The larger and faster the train, the longer the distance it will need to slow down.
The CTA is responsible for calibrating the distance.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy noted that the CTA signal system was designed some time ago – and there are many factors that enter into planning for stopping distances.
"The signal system is designed… and configured to allow a stopping distance to allow a stopping distance of 1,780 feet," Homendy said. "If you took that Yellow Line today – let's say the Yellow Line didn't exist, and today, you came in and put in a new Yellow Line – the stopping distance CTA would have to put in is 2,745 feet."
Homendy added that the NTSB believes the train operator did nothing wrong according to CTA protocol – nor did the CTA workers who were operating snow removal equipment on a clear, sunny day.
Still, questions remain about why the CTA system on the Yellow Line was configured with such a shorter stopping distance than would now be recommended.
The snow plow was out for a training exercise that CTA workers were conducting in advance of the winter months. They were preparing for snow removal ahead of poor weather conditions to come, Homendy said.
The snow plow was stopped on the tracks and waiting for a signal to move forward at the time of the crash, Homendy said.
The NTSB turned over the site back to the CTA four days after the crash, and officials have said the ball is officially in the CTA's court to determine when to reopen the Yellow Line.