O'HARE — One year ago Tuesday, a Blue Line train failed to stop in time at the O'Hare CTA station.
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The operator, who admitted to being tired before the crash, was fired by the CTA. She was involved in a similar incident the month before, when she dozed off and failed to stop a train in time at a station.
No one was killed in the early morning O'Hare crash, though 35 people were sent to the hospital. Several lawsuits were filed.
"It was a scary thing to see," Robert Kelly, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, said following the crash. "If this would've happened three hours later I have no doubt there would've been multiple fatalities."
The crash also caused $9.1 million in damages, including to one of two escalators that was replaced with stairs.
Escalator replacement (@ Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) w/ 101 others) http://t.co/26XnPxlt1Z pic.twitter.com/NUp7PREWHD
— Tanveer Ali (@tanveerali) April 6, 2014While the other escalator switched directions to take people up to the terminals, there will be soon a second escalator that will allow weary travelers to avoid walking on stairs, said agency spokesman Brian Steele.
"This escalator is being custom fabricated for the O’Hare station, and is a complex project in a comparatively tight space," Steele said.
Construction is expected to begin sometime in the coming months. The station will be back to pre-crash form by the end of the year, Steele said.
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