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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Lifeat9200rpms: Illinois Central Train Crash


     This reminiscence is made possible by my 27 month old HeartMate II LVAD, without which I would not be alive.

     At the time of this account, October, 1972, I had been the federal building beat reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper for about a month.  When I walked into the federal building press room, I turned on a radio I kept to catch the 8 a.m. news summary. 

     Instead of a news briefing, I heard a report on a commuter rail crash with many injured and killed.  It developed that this crash, which was the worst in Chicago’s history, occurred during the morning "rush hour" on October 30, 1972.

     It was early morning and I called the city desk to volunteer to go to the scene.  Basil Talbot, an assistant city editor, was in the slot and told me to go ahead to the scene.  I did not know that I would be the only Sun-Times reporter covering the crash for the rest of the morning. Another reporter, Paul Galloway, was sent out about noon. 

     I took a cab to the closest IC station, which was at 27th Street, and went down to the platform. Chaos ensued.  Illinois Central Gulf commuter train 416, composed of newly purchased double decked passenger cars called Highliners, overshot the IC station at  on 27th Street between the Lake Shore Drive roughly Cottage Grove.  

     There are many rail tracks in the two block wide area.  Commuter tracks were on the western side. Later the Illinois Central Gulf commuter trains became what is now known as Metra.


     Train 416's engineer followed protocol and the chain of command and asked and received permission from the 416's conductor to back the 416 to the platform. This move was the made without the flag protection required by the railroad's rules.


     Unfortunately, Train 416 had cleared automatic block signals, which are intended to alert following trains that the coast is clear. Because Train 416 overshot the station platform and cleared the block signals, the way was "cleared" for an express train, Train 720 to move through the station without slowing.  

     Train 720 was composed of more heavily constructed single level cars, which would rip through Train 416's thin metal skin.  Train 720's engineer was unaware of the dilemma 416 presented and 720 continued at full speed on the same track. 

     The engineer of the express train did not see the bilevel train backing until it was too late. When the trains collided, the front car of the express train demolished the rear car of the bilevel train.  Train 720 sheared the last car of Train 416 and did not come to rest until it plowed through successive cars.

     In all 45 people were killed and 332 persons were injured.  After the accident, the ends of all commuter rail cars and locomotives in the Chicago area were painted with orange and  white stripes for better visibility.  But that day the rear of  Train 416 was unmarked.

     I arrived on at the 27th Street station on Chicago's near south side. There were many firemen and police present.  In addition there were teams of doctors and nurses from Michael Reese Hospital and Mercy Hospital, which are both within a few blocks of the crash site.

    The scene was chaotic.  I found the highest ranking fireman, a division chief, and stuck to his side until I could grasp the scope of the disaster.  No one knew how many were dead or injured. There was no central place to get solid information.  

     No one was overall in charge that I could see but the Chief was making his best effort.  Meanwhile, the medical teams began moving through the cars of both Train 416 and Train 720.

    I got in line behind one of the medical teams from Michael Reese and went through one of the 416 cars.  It looked like a slaughterhouse scene: moaning, bloody, unfathomable.  In my time as a reporter I never saw anything like it and hope I never will.  The teams were going through a triage assessment of the injured and inert bodies, some of which were alive but unconscious. Some of the team started IV drips in the injured.  Others ran back to the hospital ER for supplies.  Communications were non-existent among the medical staff.  They didn't have radios and cell phones were some years away.

     Triage, as I understood it, was the method of determining who needed medical help immediately to safe a life, who was next most seriously injured, and who was either dead or so close to dying that they were listed as hopeless. I had no practical experience with a tragedy of this proportion and had no experience with the concept of triage.

     About 10 a.m. the Tribune's mobile city desk arrived at track level.  The mobile city desk was housed in a bus with writing and phone accommodations for 15 to 20 reporters.  It had a teletype link to the actual city desk.  A marvel to behold.  The problem was that I was doing pretty well surrounding the story solo and the 20 Trib reporters began stumbling over each other and duplicating each other's work.  

     A mobile city desk is a good idea, but someone needs to be in charge to divvy up the story.  My solo reporting had me overwhelmed with what to do next so I did a sample of every facet I could think of.  I called the city desk immediately after I arrived.  There were still pay telephones at the time. I had to go a block of so to find one.  My communications with the paper were stretched to an hour.  When I finally  saw Galloway, I got to a phone and unloaded all the information I had gathered to two rewrite men.

   Then I went back to work.  By this time, just after the lunch hour, the medical people and fire department had run out of body bags.  Plastic bag substitutes were used, including zip lock type bags for body parts.  As gross as that sounds, it was necessary under the circumstances.  I have to admit, I lost my lunch a couple of times that day.

     The last person rescued was the engineer of the following train, number 720.  He was trapped in the operating compartment of his train and had to be helped with the aid of metal saws, jacks, and a cutting torch.  The jaws of life were in development.

      


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