The train operator had alcohol in his system when a CTA Yellow Line train crashed into a slow-moving snowplow last year and injured dozens of people, according to a report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
But the federal agency insists the train operator’s alcohol consumption did not cause the crash.
“The investigation is ongoing, however, at this time investigators have not found that the operator’s actions contributed to the accident,” the NTSB said in a statement to the Sun-Times. A full analysis may not be released for another year, the statement said.
According to the report, a hospital test conducted an hour after the Nov. 16, 2023, crash showed the 47-year-old train operator had a blood-alcohol level of 0.06, well above the federal limit of 0.02. A second test of the sample conducted by federal authorities found the blood-alcohol level was 0.048, according to the report.
Blood-alcohol levels of 0.05 — roughly what was found in the operator’s system — have been found to impair judgment, functions and alertness, according to the report.
Twenty-three people were taken to hospitals, and 15 refused care when the train crashed near Howard Street around 10:30 a.m. The CTA shut down the Yellow Line for more than a month after the crash.
The revelation that the train operator had alcohol in his system at the time comes nearly a year after the crash. It was news on Thursday to some of the passengers who were injured.
“They were really disturbed to hear this,” said Joseph T. Murphy, a lawyer representing several of the passengers who are suing the CTA. He said the transit agency should have been more forthcoming about this detail, out of respect for the injured passengers.
“It took long enough for them to trust the CTA when [the Yellow Line] reopened. It makes them reluctant to get on the CTA again,” he said.
The NTSB report was published online in August but not reported until Thursday. The NTSB did not answer questions about why it took eight months to reveal the blood-alcohol test results of the operator.
About a month after the crash, the NTSB said the operator had followed protocols and stopped the train as quickly as he could. The train operator “did not do anything wrong,” National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said in December. Instead, the NTSB pointed to issues in the CTA train’s brake system and leaves on the tracks that caused the wheels to slip while braking.
Murphy disagreed with the NTSB’s assessment that alcohol was not a factor in the crash.
“If the person had alcohol in their system, it’s human error as well,” he said. “You can’t have someone driving around hundreds of passengers a day with alcohol in their system.”
‘My body’s going to get crushed’
The report also includes transcripts of interviews with the train operator and other employees who recounted how the crash unfolded.
Although the operator is identified in the report, the Sun-Times is not naming him because he is not officially accused of wrongdoing. The operator referred the Sun-Times to his lawyer, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did the CTA operator’s union.
According to the report, the train operator told investigators he had no braking issues earlier in the route. But when the train got a red signal seconds before the crash, the operator said the brakes did not work as intended.
“I got the brake down, but I’m still feeling a little push on the train, so I’m like, I’m pulling it down,” the operator told NTSB investigators. “I jump on the radio, [saying] ‘train not stopping.'”
“I’m like well, my body’s going to get crushed,” the operator told investigators.
The report states the operator applied full brakes within 1.1 seconds of getting an alert telling him to stop the train. The train was traveling 22.6 mph when it crashed into the plow, according to the report.
The 34-page transcript of the interview with the operator does not mention the blood test results or anything about alcohol consumption.
In a separate interview, a rail instructor tasked with working on the snow plow told investigators it looked like the operator tried to apply brakes to the train but that he knew a collision was inevitable.
“I was praying and hoping that it would stop, but the speed that the train was coming, I already knew that it wasn’t going to stop,” the instructor said.
“[The instructor’s manager] jumped up so fast, he said, ‘Oh, my God, oh, my God,’ the instructor continued telling investigators. “He was standing straight up and the next thing I know, the impact came and all I saw him do was fly out the window and I tried to grab him, but I couldn’t get to him.”
The instructor hit his head and was unconscious for about two or three seconds, he said during the interview, but went to check on his manager as soon as he regained consciousness.
“[I] just went down and stepped off the train and went down and checked on him and was praying that he was still alive,” the instructor said. “I could hear him screaming down there on the right-of-way.”
The manager’s hand was “severely cut up,” the instructor told investigators.
The instructor credited the operator with slowing down the train — potentially saving lives in the crash.
“The operator is the real hero because if [he] didn’t slow down that train, I probably wouldn’t be here with you guys right now,” the instructor told investigators to conclude his interview.
The CTA on Thursday said it was still prohibited by the NTSB from discussing details of the ongoing investigation. In a statement, the CTA said it monitors employee drug and alcohol use by conducting 350 to 450 random tests of its employees monthly.
But the train operator, hired by the CTA in 2021, had never taken a random drug and alcohol test during his CTA tenure before the crash, according to the report.
The CTA said the operator remains employed by the agency but remains “out of service.”