Nobody Was in Control of Train Responsible for Chicago Crash

Surveillance video shows nobody operating out-of-service passenger train

Video shows no one at the controls of an out-of-service train as it barreled head-on into a Blue Line train stopped at a station  in Forest Park this morning, injuring dozens of people, CTA officials said.

The agency said it was still waiting to review other video along the line and at the Forest Park train yard, where two of the four cars had been awaiting repairs. But it was at a loss to explain how the train rolled out of the station and down the line to the Harlem Avenue stop, where it collided with a train headed toward the station shortly before 8 a.m.

The train passed at least two switches that should have stopped it and was going about 20 mph when it hit the other train, crumpling the fronts of both and jolting passengers to the floor. The CTA said 33 people were taken to nine hospitals but there were no serious injuries.