Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Early Monday morning, 33 people aboard a Chicago commuter train were transported to the hospital after a collision. Somehow, another train that was parked in a service yard moved onto the tracks and ran straight into the other oncoming train. It is completely unknown how this train moved to the tracks but as for now investigators are characterizing the accident as a runaway train. According to the Chicago Transit Authority Rail Operations vice president Ronald Ester, "in order for a train to move, it has to be energized [by] unlocking the master controller." Meaning that the train would need to have been manually put into power. Authorities are unsure if this had any criminal involvement due to a lack of broken windows or doors pried open, etcetera. Currently they are looking at security footage an interviewing workers nearby.
Freak accidents like this are the reason why I don't like traveling in anything but a car. Statistically, a car is actually one of the least safe ways to travel long distances but when stories like this arise, it's easy to see why so many people choose automobile over planes and trains. Especially when this accident was caused by a person. Authorities just don't know who.

4 comments:

  1. I hope they find out who started the train and why they would want to. -Jasmine Easter

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  2. What a horrible tragedy. I hope the victims' families find peace.

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  3. That's pretty awful. It's a good thing that accidents like this are rare. While they are terrible, they do force wake up calls onto fields and people that need to be improved.

    For example, the Texas Giant incident was gruesome, yet it helped new safety regulations be made to make the ride more safe.

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  4. This is terrible. I agree with you completely on the fact that I would rather travel in a car. Statistics say that a car is the least safe to travel in but in reality, nothing is completely safe because ANYTHING could happen in the blink of an eye that no one is prepared for. Hopefully the injured passengers are okay.

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