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by Chris Pausch, Class of 2019

The CAC’s “Elevated Architecture: Downtown ‘L’ Train” tour provides a history of Chicago’s Elevated System and its impact on development in the Loop.  The tour includes four stops on the downtown ‘L’ as docents describe the early history of the system, including the story of the development of the Union Loop. The tour also offers participants a unique perspective from which to view the city’s architecture. The story of the most famous accident on the ‘L’ is an important one that some docents include on their tour.  Of course, this information is best left for when guests have disembarked from the train and the tour is nearly over!

The crash occurred at about 5:20pm on February 4, 1977, when a Lake-Dan Ryan train (a retired line that most closely resembles today’s Green Line train) turned the northeast corner of the Union Loop from Wabash to Lake Street and collided with a Ravenswood train (Brown Line) that was waiting for an Evanston Express train (Purple Line) to clear the station at State and Lake. Although the Lake-Dan Ryan train was not moving very fast, the crash created a massive pile-up and forced four cars to dangle and fall from the elevated tracks onto the street 20 feet below. An eyewitness described the scene to the Chicago Tribune as a “slow motion horror.”

Rescuers quickly reached the crash site to aid the injured passengers, and it took police and firemen upwards of two hours to extract victims stuck in the wreckage. Some of the injured were treated on the street before being loaded onto ambulances, while others were taken into nearby stores and restaurants to receive treatment.

Among those on the scene were Mayor Michael Bilandic, Cardinal Cody and other priests from the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, who were on hand to administer the Last Rites. World heavyweight champion boxer Muhammad Ali, a Chicago resident who happened to be nearby at the time of the accident, was also observed at the scene.

Throughout the evening, several local agencies worked diligently to remove the wreckage and debris from the crash scene.  Amazingly, full service was restored on the downtown elevated loop by 6:30 the next morning.

In all, eleven lives were lost in the accident, and 160 were injured in what became the worst ‘L’ accident in Chicago’s history.

The elevated cars involved in the accident were moved to the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA’s) Skokie Yard for investigation and subsequent repairs. Four cars were deemed too badly damaged to return to service and were scrapped.

The investigation focused on the Lake-Dan Ryan train operator, who had a history of rules violations and was involved in another derailment three years earlier. Although marijuana cigarettes were found in the operator’s bag, the extent to which he may have been under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident could not be determined by tests.

The final cause of the crash was determined to be human error. The operator ignored a light warning of the Ravenswood train and failed to stop the Lake-Dan Ryan train in time to avoid a collision. The National Transportation Safety Board found the operator at fault for the accident, and he was subsequently fired six months after the crash.

In response, the CTA implemented several permanent changes to its safety procedures. The most visible are the barriers built along the ‘L’ tracks sharpest curves to prevent trains from falling off the tracks after a derailment. The CTA also revised its training procedures for operators with moving violations and conducted a study focusing on distracted driving and train accidents.

The CTA has maintained a relatively safe record with no major incidents approaching the devastation of the 1977 crash. The most notable recent accident occurred on November 16, 2023, when a Yellow Line train collided with snow removal equipment near the Howard station in Rogers Park, causing approximately 40 injuries and shutting down the Yellow Line. A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that the operator of the Yellow Line train had a blood alcohol level above the federal limit.

The “Elevated Architecture: Downtown ‘L’ Train” tour includes a mandatory safety statement that is read to the guests at the beginning of the tour, and all docents are briefed on CTA safety procedures. Fortunately for Chicago and for our tour takers, there has not been a fatal derailment since the 1977 accident.

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