Chicago, IL Commuter Train Wreck, Oct 1972 - Probe Strength of Cars

Probe Strength of Cars

Chicago Train Wreck Death Toll Is 44; 300 Are Hurt

CHICAGO (AP) – Federal safety officials investigating the commuter train collision which killed 44 persons raised questions today about the strength of the lightweight steel cars used by commuter lines.

In addition to the dead, more than 300 were reported injured Monday when an Illinois Central Gulf Railroad commuter backing into a South Side station was rammed by a second IC electric commuter during the morning rush hours.

Transportation Secretary JOHN VOLPE inspected the wreckage in a 40-minute tour. He and HENDY WAKELAND, director of the department's Bureau of Transportation Safety, said the strength of the lightweight steel and aluminum cars would be studied.

It took six hours to extricate the last of the dead and injured from the crumpled wreckage of two of the cars, which were crushed like empty beer cans.
President NIXON expressed his sorrow and canceled plans for a downtown campaign motorcade scheduled for today in Chicago.

Sen. GEORGE McGOVERN, campaigning in Pittsburgh, called off a torchlight parade scheduled for Wednesday in Chicago.

VOLPE headed a federal investigation team dispatched from Washington to study the collision, the nation's worst rail disaster since 1958 when 48 persons were killed in Elizabethport, N. J.

Gov. RICHARD B. OGILVIE ordered a state investigation.

Railroad officials said they could not immediately determine how fast the second train was traveling when it struck the rear of the first commuter.

The first commuter, a shiny, four-car, double-decked HighLiner overshot the 27th Street station and was backing up when it was rammed by the second train.
The second train was made up of six 1926 vintage coaches. Each train carried about 500 passengers.

Officials said that when the first train overshot the station it may have tripped a switch which changed a signal observed by the second train from red to yellow.
They said the yellow signal permitted the second train to travel toward the station at approximately 30 miles an hour, but also indicated to the engineer that the track was clear for 2,000 yards.

The engineer of the second train, ROBERT W. CAVANAUGH, shouted a warning to passengers before the collision. CAVANAUGH, who was injured, was among the last victims freed from the wreckage. He was removed by one of four helicopters which joined a dozen ambulances in speeding victims to hospitals.

The accident occurred within 100 yards of Michael Reese Hospital, which immediately initiated its disaster plan. Hundreds of dead and injured were rushed there as emergency medical teams set up a makeshift emergency room on the station platform.

The Kokomo Tribune Indiana 1972-10-31