Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 46, 2013

The 1995 Fox River Grove bus–train collision was a grade crossing accident that killed seven students riding aboard a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, on the morning of October 25, 1995. The school bus, driven by a substitute driver, was stopped at a traffic light with the rearmost portion extending onto a section of the railroad tracks when it was struck by a Metra commuter train en route to Chicago. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found that, while the bus driver was not aware that a portion of the bus was on the tracks as she should have been, the timing of signals was so insufficient that, even if she had identified the hazard as the train approached, she would have had to proceed against a red traffic signal into the highway intersection to have moved out of the train's path. Legislation and re-engineering of interconnected crossings across the state of Illinois combined with greater awareness elsewhere resulted in efforts to help to prevent similar accidents from occurring. Informational decals were also added to Illinois school buses advising drivers of the length of each bus, since the substitute school bus driver was apparently unaware of the exact length of the bus she was driving. Other states have also embraced that and related aspects and incorporated them into their school bus driver training curriculum. The Fox River Grove accident stands as the worst accident involving a Metra train in its history, and one of the worst grade crossing accidents in U.S. history. At the accident site, the improved signaling system installed after the accident now protects the passing trains and motor vehicle traffic. Nearby, a small memorial to the seven high school students killed stands in remembrance.

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