1972 Chicago Commuter Rail Crash
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1972 Chicago Commuter Rail Crash
A collision between two commuter trains in Chicago occurred during the cloudy morning rush hour on October 30, 1972, and was the worst such crash in Chicago's history. Illinois Central Gulf Train 416, made up of newly purchased Highliners, overshot the 27th Street station on what is now the Metra Electric Line, and the engineer asked and received permission from the train's conductor to back the train to the platform. This move was then made without the flag protection required by the railroad's rules. The train's crew had not used a flagman before, and while it was a prescribed practice, it had fallen out of use. Instead, the conductor and the engineer worked in concert to back up the train, with the curve in the track partially blocking the view. Train 416 passed the automatic block signals, which cleared express Train 720, made up of more heavily constructed single level cars, to continue at full speed on the same track. The engineer of the express train did not see the bil ...
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Highliner
The Highliner is a bilevel Electric Multiple Unit railcar. The original series of railcars were built in 1971 by the St. Louis Car Company for commuter service on the Illinois Central Railroad, in south Chicago, Illinois, with an additional batch later produced by Bombardier. A second generation featuring a completely new design was produced by Nippon Sharyo beginning in 2005. History In 1926, the Illinois Central's commuter rail lines were electrified, and began operating as the " IC Electric". For almost 40 years, the IC Electric continued to operate the original fleet of heavyweight cars, until the railroad decided that a more modern railcar was needed to resume commuter operations. The Chicago South Suburban Mass Transit District was formed in 1967 in order to qualify for federal funding to purchase new equipment for the route. The original 130 car Highliner fleet had a cost of approximately $40 million; $26.6 million was funded by a federal grant, with the remainder coming ...
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Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name1 = Illinois , subdivision_name2 = Cook and DuPage , established_title = Settled , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated (city) , established_date2 = , founder = Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , government_type = Mayor–council , governing_body = Chicago City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Lori Lightfoot ( D) , leader_title1 = City Clerk , leader_name1 = Anna Valencia ( D) , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_tot ...
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Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria metropolitan area, Illinois, Peoria and Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, Rockford, as well Springfield, Illinois, Springfield, its capital. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the List of U.S. states and territories by GDP, fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the List of U.S. states and territories by population, sixth-largest population, and the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 25th-largest land area. Illinois has a highly diverse Economy of Illinois, economy, with the global city of Chicago in the northeast, major industrial and agricultural productivity, agricultural hubs in the north and center, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south. Owing to its centr ...
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United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ...
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Metra Electric Line
The Metra Electric District is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra which connects Millennium Station (formerly Randolph Street Station), in downtown Chicago, with the city's southern suburbs. As of 2018, it is the fifth busiest of Metra's 11 lines, after the BNSF, UP-NW, UP-N, and UP-W Lines with nearly 7.7 million annual riders. While Metra does not explicitly refer to any of its lines by color, the timetable accents for the Metra Electric District are printed in bright "Panama orange" to reflect the line's origins with the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) and its ''Panama Limited'' passenger train. Apart from the spots where its tracks run parallel to other main lines, it is the only Metra line running entirely on dedicated passenger tracks, with no freight trains operating anywhere on the actual route itself (the only exceptions perhaps being occasional work or repair trains). The line is the only one in the Metra system with more than one station in D ...
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Illinois Central Gulf
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa (1870). There was a significant branch to Omaha, Nebraska (1899), west of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and another branch reaching Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1877), starting from Cherokee, Iowa. The Sioux Falls branch has been abandoned in its entirety. The Canadian National Railway acquired control of the IC in 1998, and merged its operations in 1999. Illinois Central continues to exist as a paper railroad. History The IC was one of the oldest Class I railroads in the United States. The company was incorporated by the Illinois General Assembly on January 16, 1836. Within a few months Rep. Zadok Casey (D-Illinois) introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives authorizing a land grant to the company to ...
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27th Street Station
27th Street station is a commuter rail station in the Douglas neighborhood of Chicago that serves the Metra Electric Line north to Millennium Station and south to University Park, Blue Island, and South Chicago. As of 2018, 27th Street is Metra's least-used station, with an average of 12 weekday boardings. 27th Street is a flag stop; trains will not stop unless a passenger is waiting on the platform or a passenger notifies a conductor. The station was originally built by the Illinois Central Railroad (ICRR). It directly served Michael Reese Hospital Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center was an American hospital located in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1881, Michael Reese Hospital was a major research and teaching hospital and one of the oldest and largest ... until the hospital closed in 2008. In 1972 it was the site of Chicago's worst rail disaster, the Illinois Central commuter rail crash. Connections CTA buses * 3 King Drive *21 Ce ...
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Railroad Engineer
A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a person who drives a train, multiple unit or a locomotive. The driver is in charge of, and is responsible for the mechanical operation of the train, train speed, and all of the train handling (also known as brake handling). In American English, a hostler (also known as a switcher) moves engines around rail yards, but does not take them out on the normal tracks; the British English equivalent is a shunter. Train drivers must follow certain guidelines for driving a train safely. For instance, in general, train drivers are encouraged to favour longer stopping distances as this promotes vehicle health, safety, and passenger comfort. Career progression For many American railroads, the following career progression is typical: assistant conductor ...
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Conductor (transportation)
A conductor (North American English) or guard (Commonwealth English) is a train crew member responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve actual operation of the train/locomotive. The ''conductor'' title is most common in North American railway operations, but the role is common worldwide under various job titles. In Commonwealth English, a conductor is also known as guard or train manager. The responsibilities of a conductor or guard typically include the following: * Ensuring that the train follows applicable safety rules and practices * Making sure that the train stays on schedule starting from the stations * Opening and closing power operated doors * Selling and checking tickets, and other customer service duties * Ensuring that any cars and cargo are picked up and dropped off properly * Completing en-route paperwork * Directing the train's movement while operating in reverse * Coupling or uncoupling cars * Assisting with the setting out or picking up of ...
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Telescoping (railway)
In a railway accident, telescoping occurs when the underframe of one vehicle overrides that of another, and smashes through the second vehicle's body. The term is derived from the resulting appearance of the two vehicle bodies: the body of one vehicle may appear to be slid inside the other like the tubes of a collapsible telescope – the body sides, roof and underframe of the latter vehicle being forced apart from each other. Telescoping often results in heavy fatalities if the cars telescoped are fully occupied. The car riding on top will often be destroyed by the structure of the car below, crushing those on board (although the physics of the incident may reverse the cars' roles). The chances of telescoping can be reduced by use of anticlimbers and other structural systems which direct crash energy and debris away from the passenger and crew areas. Accidents where telescoping occurred are numerous and include: * 1864 Shohola train wreck * 1888 Mud Run disaster * 1928 ...
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Michael Reese Hospital
Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center was an American hospital located in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1881, Michael Reese Hospital was a major research and teaching hospital and one of the oldest and largest hospitals in Chicago, Illinois. It was located at 2929 S. Ellis Avenue on the near south side of Chicago, next to Lake Shore Drive (U.S. Route 41) which lies along Lake Michigan. The hospital closed its Internal Medicine Residency at the end of the 2007–2008 academic year and finished transferring patients to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center before the end of 2008. The 48-acre campus was then vacated by January 2009. From 2007 to its closing, Michael Reese had been owned by Envision Hospital Corporation of Scottsdale, Arizona. The hospital officially closed August 31, 2009. At one time, the hospital had a large health plan which included 300,000 patients; at the time of the hospital's closure the health plan was terminated and it only ...
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Railway Accidents In 1972
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer faciliti ...
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