signal was working properly just before the crash, when Fox The National Transportation Safety Board issued 29 distinct recommendations to 17 distinct parties in the aftermath of the crash. The rear of the bus hung over the railway grade crossing. On Wednesday morning, Oct. 25, during the trade show, word of the Fox River Grove crash started to trickle out among attendees. The train slammed into the bus going 60 mph. I knew that I was loved because my mom never left my side.. Families, who must have heard about the crash as did I, were soon to arrive. He still has the dream, though not as often these days. "She states that she stopped prior to entering the crossing, He and his wife now live in Colorado. A man is dead after a late night crash in Mercer County where his car hit a utility pole, two trees and then caught on fire. Frantic to find out more, they were told to gather just down the hill at the fire station. Of course, my thought was: God, did she know? signal," said Goglia. The train was in push mode, with the engineer operating the locomotive from the cab car at the front of the train, and the locomotive pushing the train from the rear. also of Fox River Grove died after suffering head trauma and Its speed has increased to 69mph (111km/h), just short of the speed limit on that section of track. At the time of the crash, Dotson had been a train engineer for 19 years. 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? the light red as the bus waited at the intersection. 0. On the 25th anniversary of the Fox River Grove School Bus-Metra tragedy, our sincerest condolences remain with the families of all the victims. Marino was sitting near the front of the bus. [11], A memorial was installed at Cary-Grove High School, the destination of the bus. Mercifully, I remained blissfully ignorant of the morning crash until about noon. 624 when it crashed into a school bus on Oct. 25, 1995 in Fox River Grove, poses for a portrait outside his Hazel Crest home, Monday morning, Oct. 19, 2020. State records show there have been six accidents there since 1978, four of them fatal. Suddenly, "the kids in the back, they all started running up to the front," said Katie, now 34, with a married last name, Burriss. Highway and railroad officials had each received numerous complaints from the public about the insufficient timing of the warnings provided by the signals in the year prior to the crash, and citizens later told of situations with vehicles unable to clear the tracks in a timely manner. "You just can't see the train until it's right on you," Goglia said. Burriss, now living in nearby Island Lake, stays in touch with other families affected by the crash but says they don't talk about it much. IDOT officials said they must be located 12 feet from the track, and motorists are required to stop at a flashing signal or gate no closer than 15 feet from the nearest rail. To the Transportation Joint School District 47/155: Develop a program to identify possible hazards on all bus routes. When a second track was constructed later, the only land available was on the south side. State officials said Thursday that a Chicago firm, Contracting & Material Co., was the private contractor hired by IDOT to conduct maintenance and inspections of the traffic signal device that is being investigated as a possible cause of the accident. In Fox River Grove, more warning signs and road stripping were added at the crossing. [5] Another 24 bus passengers were injured, some critically, and 4 passengers were not injured. The kids didnt have a decision in this.. The trains lead car finally came to a stop a quarter mile down the track. well within its 70 mph speed limit, and that the engineer HOLY CRAP! on the track to pass. in the back of the bus saw the train coming and were out of The rear portion of the school bus was suspended over the left-hand tracks used by the inbound express train. The board found that various agencies had failed to communicate with each other about prior complaints that involved the timing of the traffic lights and train warnings at the crossing. Joseph Kalte, 16. And Ill put a single rose by each grave, and then Ill say a prayer.. But he remembers each indelible moment. The Safety Board noted that the substitute school bus driver operating the bus that day was unaware of the hazard at the highway-railroad crossing because "the methods employed by the school district to identify and evaluate route hazards were ineffective.". On Oct. 25, 1995, inbound Metra train No. My job that day was to chronicle all this, to write a color story describing what it was like at the scene. Stephanie would have turned 40 on Oct. 8. ", "If there hadn't been a bus driver who hadn't been 20 minutes late, there wouldn't have been an express train that came through," he said. "You think, it could be worse. "I know some of the parents were pretty angry at either the train or the bus, one of the two," recalled Dennis Clark, whose son, Jeffrey, 16, was killed in the tragedy. 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. But a veteran engineer told him, Ford, it aint like you ran this train onto the street and ran over this guy.. 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. Now retired, he recently declined to be interviewed. He asked if they wanted to come to the hospital to say goodbye. -. I say he died of a broken heart, she says. The tight squeeze between the tracks and Northwest Highway, also known as U.S. Highway 14, is the result of a 1990 project that widened the road, gobbling up roughly 36 feet of Algonquin Road on the track side. Her brother, Shaun, should have been on the bus that day but disobeyed his parents and took the car. Roadway signal timing was under the jurisdiction of IDOT, while railway timing was under the jurisdiction of Union Pacific. His brother picked a seat further back in the bus. The railroad crossing just southeast of the Fox River Grove Metra station, where Algonquin Road meets U.S. Route 14, had a gate, a bell and flashing red lights. But Catencamp, unfamiliar with the route, drove onto the tracks and was then pinned in by the red light. the sensor to the intersection. A few minutes later I was at the scene at 8:30 a.m. A helicopter was hovering as it prepared to transport injured students to a hospital trauma center. 624 heading to Chicago from Crystal Lake. He'd planned to head toward the back of the bus. The bus-train collision in Fox River Grove, two decades ago Sunday, remains among the deadliest rail crossing crashes in U.S. history. He said the approaching train was supposed to trigger a Transportation Department spokesman Dick Adorjan said the Buses, trucks and other large vehicles were forced to pull through the railroad crossing in order to activate the signals at the intersection. The brothers are now Crystal Lake Firefighter/Paramedics. opened the door, looked and listened for traffic, and then Stephanie Fulham, 14 (left) and her sister Christina, then 12, the year Stephanie died. 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. right turn with the back of the bus extended across the 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. Twenty-five years ago Sunday, Ford Dotson Jr.s train smashed into a school bus in Fox River Grove. It didnt really make it any easier the next time just not so awful he couldnt climb back in the cab. 7:00am: Metra express commuter train 624 leaves the, 32seconds before impact: The crossing processor detects the presence of the Metra train. They didnt go in to her room. 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. "She stated that she never saw or heard "During training with our drivers and substitute drivers, they are told not to cross those railroad crossings," Podzimek said. Timing of the safety system was not the only problem that federal investigators found. their seats, moving toward the front of the bus when the Jeffrey Clark, 17. The body of the Metra train protruded 3 feet (1m) past the rail. 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. Rather, it launched a Daily Herald investigation that we believe helped save lives. Debbie Owens keeps memories of her daughter, irreplaceable things, in a cedar chest at the foot of her bed: some of her high school artwork, a T-shirt from a 1990s rock concert, flowers tied with a pink ribbon from Stephanies funeral, old VHS tapes. Seven high school students died and about two dozen. I hear stories about the person I was and the person I could have been, he says. Steve Bertrand on Chicago's Afternoon News is joined by survivor Jenny Swiecionis as she shares the tragic events that occurred in 1995 when a train collided with her school bus in Fox River Grove. None of the 3 train crew or approximately 120 train passengers were injured. Gates first were installed at the intersection in 1960, according to state records, and were upgraded in 1986. The crash involved a signalled rail crossing located very near a highway intersection which was regulated by traffic signals. According to Pennsylvania State Police, the crash happened on Sandy Lake Road in Mill Creek Township just before 10 p.m. Friday. 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. When a train is detected, the pedestrian interval must be ended. 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. The computer is on overload." Shawn Robinson, 14. said, adding that the bus was at least 35 feet long. come forward with complaints about the crossing. Retired train engineer Ford Dotson Jr., who was operating Metra Train No. Did the bus driver have enough time to move the bus and clear the intersection when the traffic light turned green? The crash has had a lasting affect on the emergency personnel who rushed to the scene of the crash, the survivors, and, of course, the family and friends of loved ones killed when a Metra train slammed into the back of the bus in Fox River Grove on Oct. 25, 1995. Shes an amazing woman.. the bus was too long to fit in the space between the tracks The NTSB identified four forbidden railroad crossings within the district that have poor sight lines, Podzimek said. He is a Christian, but Christmas isnt something he looks forward to. 7:13am: First 911 calls are reported to the. On occasion, hes been called to respond to school bus crashes. All of those killed Jeffrey Clark, 16; Stephanie Fulham, 15; Susanna Guzman, 18; Michael Hoffman, 14; Joe Kalte, 16; Shawn Robinson, 14; and Tiffany Schneider, 15 were reportedly sitting in the last four rows. Kids sometimes ask about the scars on his shaven head. Copyright 1995 Cable News Network, Inc. Tiffany Schneider, 15. [4]:34, The school bus involved in the accident was a 71-passenger school bus built by American Transportation Company, and was owned and operated by School Districts 47 and 155 through a Transportation Joint Agreement. 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. 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. Polston saw the train hit the bus. I remember just like it was yesterday, says Dotson, now 70 and living in Hazel Crest. (793K QuickTime animation), Goglia said the NTSB has interviewed the driver of the bus. An aerial shot of the Fox River Grove bus-train crash in 1995 from a NTBS report. The person he became is a firefighter-paramedic with the Crystal Lake Fire-Rescue Department, where his brother Brian also works. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. State records show that the firm received a multiple-year contract for $16.1 million from the agency in January to perform a wide variety of electrical contractor services for the state, including the inspection of traffic signal devices along railroads. Parents, desperate, huddled at the Fox River Grove fire department a short walk from the crash site. But The changes included creating a standardized system nationwide connecting traffic signals to railroad warning devices, Vercruysse says. Goglia said the preliminary review of the train's black box recorder "coincides" with the engineer's version. The coroner held a clipboard with a grim inventory from the dead: a description of a piece of jewelry, a distinctive shirt, a marking on the skin. Its a crisp October morning. In the state of Illinois alone, 188 other interconnected crossings were inspected for hazardous conditions. It was the most violent, abrupt thing you can imagine, Marino told the Chicago Sun-Times as he recalled the Oct. 25, 1995, collision. [4]:79, Metra train 624 consisted of six passenger cars, one cab car, and a locomotive, owned by Metra and operated by Union Pacific. The Boy Scouts presented the award posthumously. Others were assigned the hard news, in the end reporting that five students died in the crash. Most victims suffered blunt trauma and head injuries. And changes were made so the traffic light gave drivers more time to get off the tracks as a train approached. The dream that has visited Ford Dotson Jr. thousands of times always starts the same way. To this day, he says he wakes up every morning in pain. This video is now used for training purposes with Ohio School Bus Drivers. A year after the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board released its findings on the cause. It also had a history of problems. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times 16 of 19 ", "It was the first accident I had been in," Burriss said. He'd planned to head toward the back of the bus but got pulled into a front seat by two friends. Bailey had her own struggles with the death of a sister she worshiped. But investigators working the crash site Thursday found that far more than a distracted driver contributed to the crash. The brothers are now Crystal Lake firefighter-paramedics. focus on a traffic signal where a train hit a bus killing In addition, the thumbwheel setting on the crossing processor was reduced to 25seconds from 30seconds two weeks before the crash. Dotson pumps several short blasts on the airhorn. 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. Gary Washburn and Ray Gibson and Andrew Martin, Aerosmith announces farewell tour starting in September, Its Met Gala time again heres what we know so far, Rising Mississippi River continuing to test flood defenses in northwest Illinois, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. (NTSB) said the problem may have been in the timing of the I hope thats not the case.. 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. An outbound Metra train travels past a memorial at Algonquin Road and Northwest Highway in Fox River Grove, Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 21, 2020. Before she died, her father called Stephanies younger sisters Christina and Michelle, who were staying with friends. They never did. If youre in a pinch and lack a coffee machine and a grinder, you can try making whats called cowboy coffee. This might not be the tastiest cup of joe, but itll certainly get the job done. Most in McHenry County and Chicago area already know the details surrounding the tragic day and the crash, which ended up being one of the worst school bus collisions in the U.S. A National Traffic Safety Board investigation followed the tragedy, as did new protocols and policies surrounding rail crossings. Located on Algonquin Road, about 350 feet southeast of the accident site, the Fox River Grove Fire Department responded at 7:18 a.m. with an ambulance, a fire engine, four emergency medical technicians, and two para- medics. A spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration in Washington explained that "uniform guidelines" have been established. Review the information with both regular and substitute bus drivers regularly. She says she drank a lot after her daughters death. Twenty years ago, a train slammed into a school bus at a train crossing in Fox River Grove. Police said Donald Cochran, 41, from Grove City, was driving northbound when he failed to . Burriss remembers no sounds of the crash, only "dead silence.". 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. That was because he and his identical twin brother Michael would be late to school, but no one could blame them. Heartbreak for family, friends and the community. Moms crying out, dropping to their knees and begging God not to let it be their kid, is how Bob Kreher, the departments fire chief then and now, remembers it. "We didn't want to wipe out their businesses." 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 . If I were driving the bus, I believe I would stop prior to the tracks and stay there until the light turned green." But the distance from the tracks, across the stop line, to the edge of Northwest Highway is about 45 feet, officials said.