I remember just like it was yesterday, says Dotson, now 70 and living in Hazel Crest. [5] Another 24 bus passengers were injured, some critically, and 4 passengers were not injured. Her brother died in 2008, followed by her mother in 2010. FOX RIVER GROVE, Illinois (CNN) -- As federal investigators To the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services: Advise their members of the accident and its circumstances. On October 25, 1995 at 7:10 am, Metra train number 624 collided with the back of a school bus carrying students to Cary-Grove High School. In 1995, Jeffrey Clark had just gotten his driver's license and was about to receive an Eagle Scout award for his work in creating a nature trail. The ringing in his ears. The first time he made the run through the crash site, he asked to have an engineer friend with him in the cab. That answered one of the fundamental questions that arose from Wednesday's crash, which killed seven students: Why didn't the bus driver move off the tracks? At that time, I had been the state director, for North Carolina for just a few months and didn't truly realize the impact that this . He climbs into the cab of Metras Union Pacific Northwest Line train No. The bus driver, who has never publicly spoken about the crash, told investigators she thought she had "plenty of room" and said, "It never entered my mind that there wasnt enough room for that bus to fit," according to the NTSB report on the crash. Lucas is married with two children. Over the next week, there were seven funerals. The spot where it happened wasn't far from my house. The kids didnt have a decision in this.. As Daily Herald executive editor, I hadn't covered a story in a while. Her brother, Shaun, should have been on the bus that day but disobeyed his parents and took the car. no accidents on her driving record. HOLY CRAP! To limit the impact of the road expansion to businesses on the northern side of the highway, IDOT reduced the distance between the road and the railroad from 60feet to around 30 feet (9.1m). Retired train engineer Ford Dotson Jr., who was operating Metra Train No. Ill make sure I clean up everyones grave, he says. The bus driver told investigators the traffic light at the crossing never turned green, she didnt hear any warnings from students and never saw or heard the train, according to the Associated Press. 23seconds before impact: Preemption cycle for the traffic signal begins; lights on U.S. 14 prepare to change to red, but pedestrian traffic must be given time to clear the intersection. That was the day of the Fox River Grove school bus-Metra train collusion. said, adding that the bus was at least 35 feet long. At the time of the accident, 35 students were on board. She feels bad for the bus driver, whom she never faulted: "I know she's suffered. Outside Cary-Grove High, a bench surrounded by seven evergreen trees is called Friendship Circle, also in memory of those who died: Jeffrey Clark, Stephanie Fulham, Susana Guzman, Michael Hoffman, Joseph Kalte, Shawn Robinson and Tiffany Schneider. His brother picked a seat further back in the bus. [4]:1 At the time of the accident, the Metra train was traveling at approximately 60 miles per hour (97km/h). CNN - Questions follow bus-train tragedy - Oct. 26, 1995 Goglia said the potential for this kind of crash has existed for a long time. The first one especially rattled him. Polston was at the scene Wednesday morning to monitor the equipment when the crash occurred. The crash involved a signalled rail crossing located very near a highway intersection which was regulated by traffic signals. Substitute driver unfamiliar with the route. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. I wanted to be just like her, says Bailey, asingle mother of three young kids. Polston saw the train hit the bus. Chris Knapton, a spokesman for METRA, the commuter train 4 children, 1 adult injured after crash involving school bus in it took the train only 18 seconds to cover the distance from If the traffic signals had not been serving the non-existent pedestrian, the bus would have had a green light 12 seconds earlier than it did, and the collision would almost certainly have been avoided. Meanwhile, my brother-in-law, Dr. Joe Giangrasso, was treating the victims in Good . Before she died, her father called Stephanies younger sisters Christina and Michelle, who were staying with friends. The weather at the bus stop that autumn morning was biting cold, and it didn't help that the driver was running about 20 minutes late. agency, said there were conflicting reports about whether Dotson wont be there. According to tests conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board, the warning lights on the railroad crossing activated 20 seconds before the arrival of the Metra train. Carlson said tight conditions at intersections along railroad tracks are common throughout the Chicago area. A commuter train had smashed into a school bus in Fox River Grove. "They have their village mall and businesses," Carlson said. On Wednesday morning, Oct. 25, during the trade show, word of the Fox River Grove crash started to trickle out among attendees. Frantic to find out more, they were told to gather just down the hill at the fire station. FOX RIVER GROVE, IL Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of a fatal school bus crash that claimed the lives of seven Cary-Grove High School students. "The timing doesn't appear Its about me rising from the ashes and finding joy in all that you do and the people who surround you.. But investigators working the crash site Thursday found that far more than a distracted driver contributed to the crash. The school bus, driven by a substitute driver, was stopped at a traffic light with the rearmost portion extending onto a portion of the railroad tracks when it was struck by a Metra commuter . The accident occurred at 10:55 a.m., as the driver, Evan Prothero, 49, of Olivehurst, took the Marina Vista Avenue off-ramp (exit 56) from I-680 southbound from the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. NTSB concluded the traffic signal did turn green 6 seconds before impact, but Catencamp was distracted trying to attend to what she presumed was some crisis within the bus. Coverage of the 1995 school bus - commuter train crash in Fox River Grove, IL. [3] The collision occurred at the intersection of Algonquin Road, U.S. Route 14, and a double-tracked mainline belonging to the Union Pacific Railroad. Move the bus! proceeded across the tracks to the stop line at the traffic An outbound Metra train travels past a memorial at Algonquin Road and Northwest Highway in Fox River Grove, Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 21, 2020. The type of crossing where the crash occurred is known as an interconnected crossing because of the need to link the railroad signals to the road signals to ensure safe passage. Hed been involved in accidents before mostly suicides, none he could do anything to prevent. However, the traffic light clearing the rail intersection only allowed cars to clear 18seconds after the railway signals activated, giving vehicles only 2 to 6seconds to clear the tracks. They didnt go in to her room. To the Federal Railroad Administration: Update the national Highway-Rail Crossing inventory. Develop a common glossary of railroad/highway crossing terms and distribute to railroad and public entities. He stayed away from work for only a week before coming back. When the bell began to clang and the gate arm banged the top of the bus, some of the students called out to her, Were still on the tracks! But all she heard was a garble of chatter. Catencamp stopped before coming to the tracks, looked left and right, shed later recall, then began to pull across. There were reports of injuries. It also had a history of problems. The Boy Scouts presented the award posthumously. Doing an exhaustive investigation of its own, the National Transportation Safety Board agreed. Bus driver says she did not see or hear oncoming train - Tampa Bay Times The rear of the bus hung over the railway grade crossing. the train until the impact. She stopped on the other side because the light was red, not realizing her bus hadnt fully cleared the tracks. Today, he is the company's chairman, CEO and publisher. She remembers seeing the color drain from the woman's face. Officials said the train was traveling at 50 miles per hour, The sensor also activates a system designed to clear traffic from the track area. Im literally shaking as Im walking on the bus, he says of those times. But something is wrong. The space was just too tight to safely accommodate the 38-foot-4-inch bus. "We were all in a sort of shock," she said, recalling the panicked look on adult faces as they tended to teens with worse injuries. He and his wife now live in Colorado. Talking History with Dominic Konareski: The Fox River Grove Incident The Fox River Grove crash stands as the worst crash involving a Metra train in its history, and one of the worst grade crossing crashes in U.S. history. Shes haunted by a drawing Stephanie sketched about a week before she died, a pastel of a set of weeping eyes. also of Fox River Grove died after suffering head trauma and Develop a training program specifically regarding interconnected crossings. Christina Bailey, now 37 and living in Arizona, says she was too afraid. Amid the shattered glass, his head filled with the stench of burning wire, he found his brother slumped over a seat, not breathing. October 27, 1995 The body of the Metra train protruded 3 feet (1m) past the rail. He keeps at it because the bus isnt moving. In its preliminary report on the Fox River Grove, Ill., accident, the NTSB said the driver, Patricia Catencamp, had properly stopped before crossing the railroad tracks Oct. 25, 1995 on. The person he became is a firefighter-paramedic with the Crystal Lake Fire-Rescue Department, where his brother Brian also works. Stephanie would have turned 40 on Oct. 8. [6] Train 624 departed on-time from Crystal Lake station at 7:00 am bound for North Western Station in downtown Chicago. That suggests that Catencamp may have been able to avoid the crash if she had only pulled up as far as possible, although officials said state law requires school bus drivers to stop at the painted white line. Require recording devices on all interconnected crossings in the future, and require their usage when both railroad and joint maintenance is done on the crossing. Gates first were installed at the intersection in 1960, according to state records, and were upgraded in 1986. The bus-train collision in Fox River Grove, two decades ago Sunday, remains among the deadliest rail crossing crashes in U.S. history. The initial cause of the crash was the failure of the bus driver to properly judge the distance between the railroad tracks when the vehicle stopped at a traffic signal across the tracks. Rather, it launched a Daily Herald investigation that we believe helped save lives. Identical twin brothers Michael Lucas (left) and Brian Marino survived the 1995 Fox River Grove bus/train collision that took the lives of seven fellow students. hospitalized -- one in critical condition. The morning of the accident, Fox River Grove police Chief Robert Polston and an IDOT signal engineer were at the intersection because of reports of problems with the timing of the signals. Her father died in 2008. New route designs brought the number of routes crossing railroad tracks in the District 47 and District 155 school systems down from 70% in 1996 to 10% in 1997. Train subcontractors to ensure they have proper knowledge of all working interconnected systems. Students on the bus saw it coming, started screaming, and tried to run toward the front of the bus, their sounds were muffled to the driver, somewhat due to the FM radio playing through the speaker adjacent to her. 624 crashed into a school bus, killing seven teenagers on their way to class at Cary-Grove High School and injuring the bus driver and 24 passengers. At the same location on Oct. 25, 1995, inbound Metra train No. The train slammed into the bus going 60 mph. Thankfully, he did. I hope thats not the case.. Develop, with the cooperation of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Operation Lifesaver, educational materials to inform motorists of how a train and/or its cargo can occupy a crossing. The stories that stick with us: We grieved the school bus tragedy; then He asked if they wanted to come to the hospital to say goodbye. Advise members to disable radio speakers located next to drivers' heads. If the driver had realized the danger, she would still have been forced to pull through a red light to clear the track when the warning bells sounded. Department official met at the intersection. But There were reports of injuries. On the morning of Oct. 25, 1995, a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, crossed railroad tracks and immediately stopped for a red light at an intersection next to the tracks. Since the crash, District 155 implemented additional training for bus drivers and substitute drivers on railroad crossings and mirror use. Cary Drug Dealer Gets Prison Time: Prosecutors, Funds Raised For Crystal Lake Family After Fire Destroys Home, New Crystal Lake Hospital Aims To Open In July. The failure of judgment meant that around 3 inches (76mm) of the back end of the bus protruded over the nearest rail. That distance is some 30 feet, 6 inches, They can be found up and down Northwest Highway, in the northern suburbs where Green Bay Road parallels another C&NW line, at streets crossing the Norfolk & Western line in the southwest suburbs and elsewhere, he said. Review the information with both regular and substitute bus drivers regularly. A school bus full of kids had been hit by a train in a northwest suburb of Chicago. In Fox River Grove, more warning signs and road stripping were added at the crossing. The Illinois Secretary of State's office said the driver, 624 crashed into a school bus at that intersection, killing seven teenagers and injuring the bus driver and 24 passengers. Metra train No. Tests revealed the lights would change Grieving Town Buries Bus Crash Victim SARAH NORDGREN October 27, 1995 FOX RIVER GROVE, Ill. (AP) _ Dazed teen-agers wearing team jackets hugged and wept under a gray sky Friday as they buried the first of seven students killed when a commuter train smashed into their school bus. Joseph Kalte, 16. approached the crossing but could not stop in time. Of course, my thought was: God, did she know? It didnt really make it any easier the next time just not so awful he couldnt climb back in the cab. Vehicle and Train Crashes: Changes Since Fox River Grove. New Tradition Chorus "Blast From the Past" with songs of '70s and '80s. Patricia Catencamp, 54, a substitute driver for the Fox River Grove School System, told the National Transportation Safety Board late Thursday that she stopped the bus before crossing the tracks . Buses, trucks and other large vehicles were forced to pull through the railroad crossing in order to activate the signals at the intersection. [4]:812. Sued by the students' families, the governmental agencies and other parties agreed to pay a collective $27 million, divided among those who had been injured or lost loved ones. A memorial sits near train tracks at Algonquin Road and Northwest Highway in Fox River Grove, Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 21, 2020. Hell change the subject or cut the conversation short. Just 1,000 feet to the north of Wednesday's crash site, the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Northwest Highway is identical in configuration to the Algonquin crossroads. Seven teenagers died in the crash. The crunch of metal. Susanna Guzman, 18. Jeffrey Clark, 17. Twenty-five years ago Sunday, Ford Dotson Jr.s train smashed into a school bus in Fox River Grove. "She needed to see that train 1,500 feet, 2,000 feet before that intersection, and she could not see it at all," he said. It was the most violent, abrupt thing you can imagine, Marino told the Chicago Sun-Times as he recalled the Oct. 25, 1995, collision. But he remembers each indelible moment. But the Fox River Grove story didn't end there. On Sunday, some will gather at the spot where the crumpled bus sheared from its undercarriage came to rest after the impact. But was there something wrong with the crossing signals and the adjacent traffic light? But a veteran engineer told him, Ford, it aint like you ran this train onto the street and ran over this guy.. 624 crashed into a school bus at that intersection, killing seven teenagers and injuring the bus driver and 24 passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board issued 29 distinct recommendations to 17 distinct parties in the aftermath of the crash. The intersection where the accident occurred is difficult to describe. The train is now 2,300ft (701m) from the crossing. The restaurant didnt charge the family a dime. To the Illinois Department of Transportation: Review all interconnected crossings in Illinois, and ensure that vehicles at all of these crossings have enough space or time to clear the crossing when a train approaches. The commuter train approached and sounded its horn. Did the bus driver have enough time to move the bus and clear the intersection when the traffic light turned green? The heart of labor is beating strong in Chicago and Illinois, Why were launching The Democracy Solutions Project. Richard Kunz, editor of the New Electric Railway Journal, said the reason for this anomaly probably is rooted in the history of the C&NW. Our study determined the timing was off. There also had been complaints from drivers that they barely had time to cross the tracks before the stoplight at the intersection changed to red. 6:30am: Substitute bus driver arrives to perform pretrip inspection. It was reported that the road signals had originally given a safe margin, but had been modified some months previously to allow a pedestrian crossing cycle, overlooking the possible consequences at the railroad crossing. But unique geography, traffic volume and density of development makes the proximity of traffic signals to the railroad a case-by-case decision for local officials, with safety as the main factor, he said. The rear of the bus remains on the tracks. come forward with complaints about the crossing. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the collision and ruled one of the factors contributing to the crash was an inadequate school district routing and hazard marking system. After the crash, everything changed, says Brian Vercruysse, the rail safety program administrator for the Illinois Commerce Commission. Yet "they knew this crossing was a problem," he said. The bus driver, filling in for someone who called in sick, had never driven the route before, was running late and was not familiar with the intersection, which did not allow enough space for the bus to clear the tracks, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board. Of these, 24 had similar problems, and were repaired. onto route 14.". IDOT traffic engineers responsible for establishing signal timings should have recognized that in this particular case, resting in "WALK" carries substantial risk and virtually no benefit, and should not have allowed the traffic signal to rest in the pedestrian "WALK" interval. the vehicle stop line painted on the pavement and the traffic Then, one day, five years after the crash, she just stopped after her favorite glass slipped from her hand and shattered. Without blaming her for the crash, Goglia said the regular driver's rules were the wiser ones. 5 Killed as Commuter Train Hits School Bus - New York Times His mother, so many years later, will often ask, Mikey, do you remember when you were little, and you used to do this ?. The driver should have moved the bus forward. This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 16:22. Doug Ray began his career at the Daily Herald Media Group as a reporter. (7News) Four children and one adult were rushed to the hospital Monday morning after a crash involving a school bus, the Montgomery County Police Department said . I told my wife I was going there. Remembering the Victims of the 1995 Fox River Grove School Bus Crash One of seven students killed in the bus/train collision in Fox River Grove, Illinois. [10] A memorial plaza was constructed on library grounds, and was dedicated in October 2000. My job that day was to chronicle all this, to write a color story describing what it was like at the scene. to be proper," he said. FOX RIVER GROVE, Illinois (CNN) -- Two more high-school students have died from injuries sustained in a tragic bus-train collision, raising the death toll to seven. Goglia's concerns about the safety system's timing and the layout of the intersection echoed worries voiced for some time by local residents and recently by Fox River Grove Police Chief Robert Polston. An accident 20 years ago on Sunday shook the town of Fox River Grove. Five students died in the crash Wednesday and two more were That was because he and his identical twin brother Michael would be late to school, but no one could blame them. "Kids are screaming. Burriss remembers no sounds of the crash, only "dead silence.". In 1995, National Transportation Safety Board member John Goglia told AP that even if the driver had seen the train, she would have had little time to react. "It was the first time I experienced a death. The screams. When the railroad's first line was built in the middle 1800s, it operated on a single track and all the stations were constructed north of the railbed. No state or federal standards establish safe distances between railroad beds and highway traffic signals, officials said. Because passengers waiting to board trains need the amenities of a station more than departing riders-who tend to alight and leave-the C&NW adopted a left-hand operation. pronounced dead Thursday after being taken off life support The most seriously injured suffered skull fractures, lacerations and internal injuries. I would steal her clothes, take her stuff. [8], A large granite memorial and two plaques were placed near the site of the crash in memory of the seven students killed in the crash. Goglia said the preliminary review of the train's black box recorder "coincides" with the engineer's version. "During training with our drivers and substitute drivers, they are told not to cross those railroad crossings," Podzimek said. The tragedy devastated the small community about 45 miles northwest of downtown Chicago, while also bringing residents closer as they clung to one another for support. Painful memories linger 20 years after bus-train crash in Fox River Grove killed seven Cary-Grove High School students. Seven high school students died and about two dozen. The traffic signal would rest in the "WALK" indication for pedestrians during the morning commute period. On the morning of Oct. 25, 1995, in Fox River Grove, Illinois, no one expected tragedy would strike. The girls had been. Seven teenagers died, and the bus driver and 24 passengers were hurt. A. Debbie Owens was there. Seven teenagers, all of them students at Cary-Grove High School, were killed: Jeffrey Clark, Stephanie Fulham, Susanna Guzman, Michael Hoffman, Joe Kalte, Shawn Robinson and Tiffany Schneider. And changes were made so the traffic light gave drivers more time to get off the tracks as a train approached. Engineering contractors and the Illinois Department of Transportation settled for $3.2 million and $750,000, respectively.[7]. "You have to find a path that works for you. in the back of the bus saw the train coming and were out of October 25, 1995-twenty years ago. Patricia Catencamp, the bus driver, also turned down an interview request. He'd planned to head toward the back of the bus but got pulled into a front seat by two friends. Marino quickly laid his twins head on his lap, tipped it back and plucked the gum out of his mouth. But on the morning of Oct. 25, 1995, my instincts as a reporter kicked in when I heard the WGN radio bulletin. Zachary said that immediately after the crash the driver shouted for everyone to get off the bus, and made a radio call. and the intersection. The memorial, called The Circle of Friends, features thirty-six stones to represent the passengers and driver of the bus and seven blue spruce trees to commemorate those who died.[12]. The spot where it happened wasn't far from my house. Ambulances, 30 of them, lined up on either side of Route 14 to carry away the injured and dying. You just handle situations.". There are standards for the placement of crossing gates, however. To the Federal Highway Administration: Develop a way to visually show on pavement where a train and/or its cargo may be to assist drivers in determining their safe distance from the crossing. None of the 3 train crew or approximately 120 train passengers were injured. Identical twin brothers Michael Lucas and Brian Marino survived the 1995 Fox River Grove bus/train collision that took the lives of 7 fellow students.

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