In a report filed on Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that a 2003 Metra derailment was caused by a distracted engineer who failed to see a signal that would have told him to slow down.
The National Transportation Safety Board also used its findings on the commuter rail accident to repeat its call for the nationwide installation of satellite-based technology that can automatically slow trains if danger is detected ahead.
"How many more accidents do we have to see before the railroad industry and the Federal Railroad Administration are convinced that [positive train control] is needed on all mainline track in the United States?" acting NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker said in a statement.
Metra's October 12, 2003, accident on the Rock Island District Line left forty-five people injured and resulted in more than $5 million in damage. The train from Chicago to Joliet was traveling at 68 m.p.h. at a crossover switch where the speed limit is 10 m.p.h.
"Human error was the cause of that derailment, and this is of great concern to us and brings us great sadness," said Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet.
Pardonnet said the NTSB's positive train control recommendation is not practical, considering the decade it would take to install the technology on Metra's 11 rail lines at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion. She said Metra is looking at similar technology that could be installed more quickly and for one-third the cost.
Preliminary NTSB reports on the Sept. 17, 2005 accident show that train was also speeding when it reached a crossover point near 47th Street and careered off the tracks, traveling at 69 m.p.h. in the same 10 m.p.h. zone. Two people were killed and 17 were seriously injured.
The NTSB recommended that Metra use simulators to train engineers to better manage "multiple concurrent tasks and atypical situations," require train crews to call out signal indications on the radio and install a positive train control system on all routes.
Pardonnet said Metra has taken steps to meet or exceed some of those recommendations. She said the rail agency hopes to buy additional training simulators and is looking at a system that would give engineers an automatic audio alert that they are approaching a signal.
Although many of the variables between the 2003 and 2005 accidents appear identical, Pardonnet said the fact that the derailments happened in the same location "may just be a coincidence." She said there is no reason to suspect signal problems in the area, and that no changes have been made to the track there.
