Video Shows Train Crashing Into O'Hare Airport Station

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 26, 2014 1:30PM

Photo credit: Jessica Smith/Twitter

One of the questions surrounding Monday's crash involving a Blue Line Train at the O'Hare Airport station was how fast would the train have to have been moving in order to land so high on the escalator?

Thanks to CTA surveillance camera video, now we know and the answer is pretty fast.

The video was posted to the Reddit Chicago sub-thread Tuesday. The Sun-Times posted the video and even managed to get a GIF of the money shot.

This being the Internet, however, nothing stays buried for long and a copy of the original video was posted to YouTube, which was picked up by NBC 5. Thirty-two people were injured in the crash and the video makes one wonder what would the injury toll have been if the police officer and traveler in the foreground didn't get out of the way.

Meanwhile, three women aboard the train who work at O'Hare filed lawsuits against CTA questioning, among other contributing factors in the crash, the design of the O'Hare Blue Line station. Attorney Matthew Jenkins, representing security officer Dalila Jefferson, wants to know why a bumping post at the end of the line and safety brakes didn't stop the train. From the video we can surmise why: the train was going real fast.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ted Turpin said an "automatic stop" activated before the crash but "whether it did it in time or not — that’s an analysis we have to figure out."

Related:
32 Injured as Blue Line Train Plows Into O'Hare Station
Train Operator One Focus Of CTA Blue Line Crash