From Altamont Press:
Engineer tells of crashes
The engineer of a Metra train that struck a pickup truck in Elgin, Illinois on Monday, killing its 74-year-old driver, also operated the train that plowed into vehicles that were backed up on the tracks in Elmwood Park last month, Metra officials said Tuesday.
A day after the Elgin accident that killed Yorkville resident Vernon Smith and less than a month after the Elmwood Park crash, the 56-year-old engineer called on motorists to pay more attention to their surroundings and obey traffic signals and rules.
“There’s no reason for this. There’s no reason at all,” said Schaumburg resident Wayne Lumpkins, who has been an engineer for 30 years, including nearly nine years at Metra.
“They need to obey the rules and slow down,” he added. “It’s simple. Stop, look and listen.”
About four years ago, a train he was operating struck a car that drove around lowered gates in Bensenville, Lumpkins said, but the driver was not killed. A decade ago, a woman committed suicide by jumping in front of a freight train he was operating.
Sitting in an office at Metra headquarters in Chicago, Lumpkins spoke publicly for the first time since the Nov23 Elmwood Park accident. That afternoon, his train struck five cars on the tracks and they rammed into 11 other vehicles, injuring at least 13 people. Federal investigators have said the accident likely was caused by motorists who ignored warning signs and stopped on the tracks.
“Everyone who was involved in that, they should get down on their knees and thank God because that could have been worse,” said Lumpkins, who received counseling and returned to work a week later. “I know I did.”
Lumpkins has not been accused of wrongdoing in either incident and has a clean record at Metra, agency spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said.
Lumpkins, who is seeking counseling after Monday night’s incident, said he wanted to speak p