Emails Indicate Construction Mishap May Have Caused Yellow Line Collapse
CHICAGO (CBS) – Yellow Line riders are in for a long delay, as it could up to a month before trains are running again, after tracks were damaged by a ground collapse.
Right now, the top priority is to stabilize the earth below the railway.
Until then, no CTA trains will run on the tracks, and officials are trying to get to the bottom of how it happened.
A project to install a new system at the nearby Metropolitan Water Reclamation District sewage plant has been halted and work won't resume until the gaping hole beneath the tracks is filled and secure.
"What we're doing is moving earth and various stabilizing mechanisms so there's no more movement in terms of the ground," said Mariyana Spyropoulos, of the Water Reclamation District, which is the agency overseeing the sewage plant project.
And while crews work to make repairs, details of what caused the cave-in begin to surface.
CBS2 has learned that around 9:20 p.m. Sunday, a CTA train operator traveling southbound to Howard Street was the first to call and report "a small bend in the rail."
CTA immediately halted all trains.
By the time they checked the tracks they found a huge hole and twisted track. The assumption is the erosion happened over several minutes.
But what caused it?
"There are experts that will evaluate that and try to come up with the scenario of what happened," said the MWRD's David St. Pierre.
Sources tell CBS2 that officials at the water district are pointing the finger at Walsh Construction, one of the main contractors on the sewage plant job.
Shortly after the track was shut down, MWRD commissioners received an email saying "a shored up wall collapsed."
They were verbally told that Walsh crews had hit the wall with a back hoe while digging, and because the company hadn't done a good enough job of securing the wall, it caved under pressure, sources said.
Officially, Spyropoulos said it is too soon to place blame.
"You have to look at all the players," she said. "It appears several different factors at this point."
CBS 2 reached out to Walsh. and were instructed to call the water district.
In addition to Walsh, there are two other engineering firms involved in the project, EDI Design International and Greely and Hansen. We sent emails to both companies, and did not get a response.
Officials at the water district say they hope to have a better idea of caused the cave-in by the end of the week.
