Early on the morning of Nov. 3, 2011, a CN freight train derailed at an intersection with Metra’s Milwaukee West Line tracks near Bartlett, IL. The tangled mass of crushed freight cars and twisted rails made clear immediately that the Milwaukee West Line wouldn’t be operating normally that day—and that restoring normal service anytime soon would require a huge effort.

“I knew right when I heard there was a derailment at the Spaulding Crossing that we were going to gave trouble running service on the line,” said Don Orseno, Metra’s chief transportation officer.

Most of the line’s trains were trapped in the overnight storage yard to the west, prevented by the accident from making their trip east into Chicago.

And yet, less than 24 hours later, Metra trains were again rolling out of the yard to serve the line’s 12,000 passengers.

First Steps
To make that happen, a lot of hands pitched in—from Metra as well as a variety of other agencies. Police and fire departments from Bartlett, Elgin, and nearby communities quickly and effectively contained the scene and enabled the cleanup to proceed rapidly. Metra worked closely with CN to get the debris untangled and remove it from the right-of-way. Several other state and federal agencies were on hand to assist.

Metra, of course, was concerned about more than just the cleanup. The Chicago commuter rail agency also had to address the disruption of service and run whatever trains and buses it could, plan for the eventual resumption of at least partial service, and keep riders as informed as possible throughout. It had to determine the best way to reestablish at least one track through or past the accident scene. And, since time was of the essence, it began preparations to do that before the debris was cleared.

Communications Plan
The work began immediately following the derailment. In the early morning hours after the accident, key personnel put together a communications plan to try to provide all customers with e-mail alerts and information via Twitter that would save them a trip to their stations and allow them immediately to determine an alternate way to get to work that day.

Soon thereafter, Metra’s top executives convened in its Global Positioning Satellite system conference room downtown, which serves as an emergency operations center during times of crisis. Having key managers at a central location allows for decisions to be made quickly and relayed clearly and effectively. That group eventually included Metra Chief Executive Officer Alex Clifford; George Hardwidge, deputy executive director; Orseno; Joe Lorenzini, chief engineering officer; Marty Ryan, chief mechanical officer; Sharon Austin, senior corporate director, customer affairs; James Sanford, Metra police chief; members of our web, media relations, and customer communications teams; and other officials.

Top Priority
The first priority was to figure out what service Metra could provide to riders of the Milwaukee West Line. “The challenge was to determine how much equipment we had east of the accident, and to determine where we could borrow equipment from other lines without affecting those lines,” said Pete Zwolfer, the senior transportation department director who oversees the lines out of Chicago’s Union Station. “We wanted to accommodate as many people as we could, knowing we certainly couldn’t accommodate everyone with what equipment we had,”

Two Milwaukee West trains that had passed through the intersection before the accident were available, and Metra borrowed another train from another line. For the morning rush hour that day, those three trains operated very limited service between Bartlett and Chicago. Metra also set up buses to transport riders from the last three stops of the line in Elgin to Bartlett.

Electronic Media
Metra made good use of an e-mail alert system it had introduced with the 2009 redesign of its web site. Riders who had signed up to receive notifications about the line were sent e-mails alerting them about the incident and about the limited service that Metra was able to offer. The agency used Twitter in a similar fashion.

Metra suggested it might make sense for some riders to use the UP Northwest or UP North lines, which run on either side of the Milwaukee West Line. Milwaukee West riders who live a little closer to Chicago were able to use the North Central Service Line where it shares tracks with the Milwaukee West. All information also was posted on Metra’s web site, including frequent updates. Metra notified Chicago’s media outlets about the plans so they could help inform riders.

Evening Rush Hour
The next step was to put together a plan for the evening rush, since it was clear the intersection would not be open by then. Using four sets of equipment, Metra arranged a limited schedule to Bartlett with buses providing connections beyond to the three Elgin stops. Again, it used various means to alert riders. In all, Metra sent more than 180 tweets and more than 90 alerts to riders of line in about a 24-hour period.

“The entire staff really pitched in,” Zwolfer said. “Everyone from managers to our union employees went above and beyond what was needed to keep things moving as best as possible. It was an entire team effort; that’s how we get through these types of situations, with everyone pulling together.”

Damage Assessment
While officials downtown were planning for service and informing passengers, other Metra workers were at the scene of the derailment to determine the extent of the damage and begin planning repairs.

“We had both of our mainline tracks torn up and out of service due to the derailment. Most of the rail and ties were mangled up under the derailed freight cars,” Lorenzini said. “The mainline crossing diamonds were damaged beyond repair with a pile of debris centered right over the crossing.”

Metra Engineering Department officials quickly decided the best way to reestablish service was to focus on a parallel track, usually used by freight trains, just to the south of two main tracks. It was also damaged and had upended freight cars blocking it, but they could see that clearing that track would be easier and faster than either of the two mains. When Clifford and Hardwidge arrived at the scene a few hours later to survey the damage, the plan to concentrate efforts on the parallel track was worked out with the CN and finalized.

Metra also had to coordinate with CN to make sure debris was removed from the parallel track first, and it had to wait for fire department officials to extinguish the stubbornly burning rolls of paper from one of the cars.
“As soon as we could get close enough to assess the damage and see how much rail and how many ties were destroyed, we started ordering equipment for repairs,” said Larry Powell, director of engineering for the Milwaukee West Line. Fortunately, most of the needed material and workers were nearby, “so they got busy immediately building 40-foot panels of rails and ties.” To repair the parallel track and both mainline tracks, about 280 feet of panels were ordered.

The parallel track was cleared of debris at about 7:30 p.m. But the fire was not extinguished until about three hours later, and that’s when the track repairs began in earnest.

Because the panels were already assembled, it was simply a matter of laying them down and connecting them to each other and to the parallel track. Four hours later, the new track was ready for trains—meaning that the Milwaukee West fleet was no longer trapped back in Elgin.

Next Morning Rush Hour
In anticipation of getting the track open overnight, Transportation Department officials made plans to operate Friday’s morning rush. Unblocking the intersection freed the fleet to serve the line’s riders, but the bottleneck created by the single track operation would still delay trains. That’s why, beginning the night of Nov. 3 and into the next morning, Metra informed riders through its web site, e-mail alerts, and the media that trains would be operating but could be delayed by as much as 30 minutes.

From those who repaired the track to those who planned, communicated, and operated the trains, workers from every department of Metra contributed to the successful resumption of service Friday morning, Nov. 4. At 4:17 a.m. that day, less than 24 hours after the accident, Milwaukee West train No. 2200 rolled out of Elgin on the line’s first run of the morning.

Sleepy riders were no doubt glad to board the train, even if they weren’t aware of the huge effort put out by Metra to deliver it to their station.

Emergency personnel examine the wreckage after a CN freight train detailed at an intersection with Metra tracks.	Metra cleared the parallel track the evening of the day of the derailment, but extinguishing the fire took three more hours.

While Metra officials in downtown Chicago made plans for service, other workers went to the scene to determine the extent of damage and begin planning repairs.