Derailment (From Another Forum)

http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14678

Here’s a little bit more info from the Chicago Tribune:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ap-il-trainderailment,1,3402539.story?coll=chi-news-hed

CC

From the AP story:

No injuries were reported, but one woman was shaken up and taken to the hospital as a precaution and train service was suspended, said John Parsons, spokesman for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, which owns and operates the South Shore Line.

The passenger train was on a passing track next to the main track, Parsons said. It hit the freight train while waiting for the freight to pass, Parsons said.

How could a waiting train on a passing siding hit another? Jump sideways?

Nice, clear writing there. And the writer got all the details accurate, too. [:O][oops]

Thats a good question?? So lets go see what the engineer has to say!!

Uh, well, um… I saw the end of the train, and, umm I guess I threw the reverser, umm, to forward before the train left the turn out…

…[banghead]

Well, that ends the news report.

James

My wife and I both went “Huh?” at that report of the collision-while-waiting when we heard it while coming home from Michigan.

Later, however, we heard a news report (WBBM) in which the NICTD person stated on the air that the passenger train, for reasons unknown, crept beyond the red signal and into the freight.

When I went by the site at about mid-afternoon, two passenger cars were still there. The westernmost one (which had hit the freight) appeared to be still on the ground, and its left front corner was pretty mangled.