Serious UP Wreck in Glenview/Northbrook,IL/Viaduct Collapse

Everyone: I looked thru this entire website and found next to nothing on the serious UP freight derailment that occurred on 7/4 in Glenview/Northbrook,IL
which is in Chicago's northern suburbs...

A coal train running between the Wyoming coal fields and a Wisconsin power plant piled up in 100 degree heat destroying an overpass and further news
indicates that at least one vehicle may have been crushed in the wreck...

This looks to be a serious accident and from what investigators think the extreme heat may have been a factor...

This accident occurred on a non-METRA or Amtrak freight line so passenger service is not affected...

To the Moderator (Golden-Arm): Please place Ocala Mike's post along with this to allow other input about this accident...

See: http://www.suntimes.com/13604177-761/ca ... lapse.html
This includes photos and a WGN TV news report...

MACTRAXX

I just received a Chicago Tirbune email alert (no linkable story yet) that a car and body was found underneath the wreck.

For those wondering where this was, this is the UP "New Line" coming from Proviso Yard to head north to Milwaukee. CP operates on it on trackage rights (the wreck site is just south of where CP diverges to go to the C&M) so both railroads are affected with freight going towards Milwaukee. CP could detour by going east from Bensenville around the corner at A-5 on to the C&M (although many Metra conflicts with that). A UP detour route is not as obvious.

Apparently the wreck occured first , and then the weight of all the derailed coal hoppers right on top of the bridge then caused the bridge to fail. JS

It was confirmed today that two occupants were caught in their car under the overpass and were crushed.

Yes, and according to news reports the family of the deceased (a lawyer and his wife) have ALREADY filed a suit against UP alleging negligence and failure to inspect the tracks. File the lawsuit first, bury the dead later.

For what it's worth witnesses saw someone on the bridge only an hour or two before the wreck, presumably performing an inspection. Let's hope it can be proved it was a UP employee and the lawsuit can be proved unfounded.

Here is amateur video taken before first responders were at the scene:

http://glenview.patch.com/articles/vide ... o-10559384

The incident occurred at the Techny Cutoff's overpass atop Shermer Road. The Techny Cutoff is a line once jointly owned by MILW and C&NW enabling both roads access to their Bensenville and Proviso yards and to access their Chi-Milw lines.. The line runs around the West side of O'Hare, thence heads Northeastward to connect with the C&NW freight line to Milw and finally with the MILW at Techny. Train Dispatching is alternated between the two roads (UP and SOO as successors).

There was once an Amtrak passenger train detoured over that line and that i believe occurred during November 1972; somewhere in my collection, I have photos of such.

Wow ... too much weight in the wrong place. Hopefully UP will have a verifiable report of their inspection earlier in the day to clear up the lawsuit aspect.

WGN's photog unfortunately guessed right that someone could be under that collapse.

It is inconceivable to me that the Union Pacific Railroad--with their vast territory & long history--wouldn't have a safety rule out there regarding derailments which occur over bridges or viaducts... And especially over public roads.

Heads are are gonna roll on this fiasco as well... That Shermer Rd. underpass should have been blocked off as soon as there were reports that a loaded coal train had derailed upon the structure.

The utter and complete lack of awareness, competence, PR, and Communication from Omaha inre: These recent tragedies is extremely disappointing. The Corporation appears naked, helpless, & stupid in terms of understanding the actual railroad-related services they perform and are responsible for...

Reminds me of the time they flew a guy out to try and fire me for evading work while I was on furlough... Along with half the terminal. That definitely made an impression.

thirdtrick wrote:It is inconceivable to me that the Union Pacific Railroad--with their vast territory & long history--wouldn't have a safety rule out there regarding derailments which occur over bridges or viaducts... And especially over public roads.

Heads are are gonna roll on this fiasco as well... That Shermer Rd. underpass should have been blocked off as soon as there were reports that a loaded coal train had derailed upon the structure.

What??? My impression from the reports is that the train derailed due to a track failure (heat kink) probably off the bridge, the cars piled up on the bridge far exceeding the weight the bridge was designed to support, and the bridge failed. I would be surprised if it was more than 15 to 20 seconds between the initial derailment and the collapse of the bridge. Most likely by the time the crew had an opportunity to report anything, the bridge was down.

If you have information to support the implied claim that UP had time between the derailment and the bridge collapse to take action, please provide a source.

Indeed, if there were only mere seconds to respond to the disaster, then that would certainly change things...

And contradict this news report: http://www.suntimes.com/13604177-761/ca ... lapse.html

So why don't we have the truth, Omaha?

thirdtrick wrote:Indeed, if there were only mere seconds to respond to the disaster, then that would certainly change things...

And contradict this news report: http://www.sun-times.com/13604177-761/c ... lapse.html

So why don't we have the truth, Omaha?

I'm not seeing anything in that article to suggest there was any appreciable time between the derailment and the bridge collapse.

lstone19 wrote:I'm not seeing anything in that article to suggest there was any appreciable time between the derailment and the bridge collapse.

Agreed. There was no time available to set up road blocks or evacuate the area before the derailment collapsed the bridge.

Chicago Tribune wrote:In Wednesday's derailment, Tony Nielsen said he was working in a nearby office building when he heard the train and then "the whole building shook."

He said that although they often feel the rumble of the trains going past, he and his co-workers ran outside when they felt the building shake.

"The train was already derailed; the bridge had collapsed," he said.
Source

The derailment and bridge collapse were all part of the same building shaking event.

And from a separate article (about the lawsuit already filed):

Chicago Tribune wrote:Erich Gibbs, who owns a business in the area, said he was driving on Shermer under the bridge about noon Wednesday, less than two hours before the accident, and he saw a worker wearing a colored safety vest walking on the tracks.

"It looked like he was checking something out,'' said Gibbs, 72, of Wilmette. "An hour and a half later, the train .... crushed the bridge.''

Davis confirmed that Union Pacific inspectors and monitoring equipment were on the tracks before the accident checking for possible abnormalities in track gauge or shifting. Such inspections are routinely conducted twice a day during extreme heat or cold, he said.
Source

A witness to the track inspection before the accident.

Condolences to the family and friends of Burton and Zorine Lindner, but I don't see a case for negligence.

pumpers wrote:Apparently the wreck occured first , and then the weight of all the derailed coal hoppers right on top of the bridge then caused the bridge to fail. JS

All is speculation, and "armchair quarterbacking" until there's official word. Now, considering I am NO expert , but was on the railroad for an entire career, what I am seeing from the pics supports your post. *Something* happened just across the bridge in the direction of travel (rail kink?), a car derailed(rear truck?) and pushed out to one side. The rest of the cars "fanfolded" into that car and onto the bridge. The bridge had a designated weight. The loaded coal cars now folded sideways and across the RoW and on the bridge, exceeded the max capacity and it collapsed. What a horrible thing to happen. Again I am no expert, but I saw this happen before on Sou/NS where cars "folded" like a geisha's fan. We won't know until the investigation.

GF

lstone19 wrote:I'm not seeing anything in that article to suggest there was any appreciable time between the derailment and the bridge collapse.

Fair enough. I took this quote from the article out of context then: "The engineers and car crew said the bridge was intact when the train went over. It all seemed fine to them,” Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said."

My bad.