Chicago: "Ghost Train" Crashes, 33 Hurt, Train Had No Driver, Security Cameras Were Not Working, Train Passed Through 2 Interlocking Systems Which Should Have Triggered The Brakes

This might be "Terror-related", but for now they're going with the "Ghost" explanation.

From CBS Chicago:

CHICAGO (CBS) — The circumstances surrounding Monday’s collision on the CTA’s Blue Line were so unusual that police at first suspected it had to be a deliberate, criminal act. 

What other way to explain how a train could leave a rail yard, drive past one station terminal and travel at least a mile down the wrong tracks without safety mechanisms stopping the cars before the crash? 

It appears that’s exactly what happened. 

“The million dollar question is, how did this happen?” said Robert Kelly, of Amalgamated Transit Union 308. Kelly said somebody would need to use a key to power up and drive the rail cars. 

Witnesses reported that the four-car train, traveling eastbound before smashing into a standing westbound train at Harlem Avenue in Forest Park, did not have a driver and CTA officials said video showed no one was operating the train during the crash. 

Some have dubbed it a “ghost train.” 

Potentially complicating the investigation, Kelly tells CBS 2, is word that cameras stationed where the train began its mysterious journey were not functioning Monday morning. 

Tim DePaepe, the lead investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board, is still trying to figure out how the empty Blue Line train ended up on the tracks. 

According to the CTA, that train was marked “Out Of Service” when it began its mysterious ride out of the Forest Park rail yard, where the Blue Line begins in the western suburb. 

The train traveled out of the yard and past the Forest Park station stop before traveling eastbound to the next station at Harlem. 

The four-car runaway train which struck the standing westbound train filled with passengers at the Harlem Avenue station, was scheduled to go the CTA’s Skokie workshop to repair cars 3 and 4, which had been out of service since last Monday. 

At least 33 people were hurt. 

Kelly told CBS 2 the train may have been traveling upwards of 20 to 25 miles per hour when it hit the stationary train. What is clear: Several fail-safe mechanism failed to work properly. 

Another (one of many) key question: How did the eastbound train manage to leave the Forest Park rail yard and pass over at least two interlocking systems that should have triggered the brakes? 

“There were two switches that ideally should have stopped the train, but they did not. Now that could have been a simple matter of those switches being misaligned or not set properly in the first place so we do have fail safes in place however they didn’t function the way they should in this particular case,” said CTA Spokesman Brian Steele.