CHICAGO (WLS) — This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of one of the worst train accidents in recent Chicago Transit Authority history.

On November 16, 2023, a CTA Yellow Line train collided with snowplow equipment on the tracks on a clear morning.

What went wrong with train 593? The ABC7 I-Team has new records that suggest some answers, including a list of factors related to an outdated brake design on the train and residue on the tracks caused by crushed leaves.

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The experience of that day still haunts some of the passengers on board a year ago, including Phillip Rogers.

“One minute, I’m sitting there, everything’s fine, and then BANG. I hit the train window with my head and broke it,” Rogers said.

In the fog of what would be diagnosed as a concussion, Rogers says he managed to take a photo of the broken window his head slammed against that November morning.

Rogers was in the second car of train 593, and he said he immediately began helping other shaken and injured passengers.

“It was just kind of chaos,” Rogers said. “I couldn’t wait to get off the train, there was a lot of blood.”

Rogers was one of 38 people injured, according to Chicago Fire Department officials that day, including children and CTA workers. No one was killed, but six people were seriously injured.

Steven Helmer and his wife were aboard train 593 that November morning, visiting their daughter and twin granddaughters. The family was heading downtown when they said the unexpected and unthinkable happened.

“There was just a loud noise toward the front of the train car, and all of a sudden we were all either flying through the air or thrown to the ground,” Helmer said. “We were thrown into the air and the twins were in a stroller. Luckily they were attached to a stroller so they were knocked over when the collision happened.”

Helmer said his entire family was injured in the crash: He required surgery on his elbow and his wife’s teeth were damaged.

Helmer and Rogers are among the crash survivors suing the CTA, claiming the agency’s negligence led to the 593 train crash.

In court filings, the CTA denied any negligence.

“It was a very, very serious accident,” Rogers told the I-Team. “I kept thinking, ‘How did this happen?'”

For the past year, the I-Team has been working to answer this question.

Repeated requests to speak with CTA President Dorval Carter, Jr., including a personal request from Certified Mail, were all ignored.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says its investigation into the crash could take another year. But through the NTSB, the I-Team obtained hundreds of documents from regulators and investigators in search of clues.

In an initial post-accident technical investigation report, the CTA’s chief engineer concluded that the train’s signaling system should have warned the train’s driver to begin braking earlier, allowing him to stop on greater distance before colliding with snow plow equipment.

This did not happen because the system relied on outdated procedures.

“(T)The 1970s braking distance design did not meet current CTA braking distance criteria,” the report notes. “The maximum safe braking distance that was present would only have resulted in a ‘safe stop’ if the braking conditions had been near perfect.

But conditions that day were not perfect, compromised by the train driver’s obstructed line of sight of what was in front of him on a bend in the railroad tracks, as well as “crushed leaves,” according to the CTA investigation.

CTA staff included a photo in their report showing that “leaf residue had been ‘crushed’ into the (form) rail head.”

Even though the train’s emergency brakes were engaged, CTA’s chief engineer determined: “The tracks in the downgrade approaching the collision site appear to have been compromised… due to a contaminant which would be associated with crushed leaves. »

Professor PS Sriraj, director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, reviewed the results and says there was not just one cause of the accident, but several.

“It’s a confluence of many different factors that all came together at exactly the wrong time,” Sriraj said. “We have the braking distance problem, we have the leaf residue, we have the obstructed view, and the most unforgivable thing is that the snowplow is on the same track as the train.”

CTA staff should have been aware of snow plow training on the tracks that day, given a “Rail Service Bulletin” sent the day before and recently obtained by the I-Team.

The bulletin, which the CTA shared with NTSB investigators, was sent to “all affected employees,” informing employees that the snow locomotive was “cleared for operation on the Yellow Line” at the time of the accident.

Attorney Richard Pullano, who represents Stephen Helmer, said the fact that the snow plow was training on active tracks was very concerning.

“I think when you look (CTAs) conduct, I think the best description is gross negligence,” Pullano said. “It was egregious. It was a catastrophic failure of a multitude of events that should never have happened. It shocks the conscience.”

These accident factors are not the only points under investigation.

As the I-Team was first to report last monththe train driver behind the controls of train 593 had alcohol levels in his system that exceeded those permitted by federal regulations.

The I-Team found this detail buried in an NTSB report on the accident.

An agency spokesperson said that while the investigation was ongoing, they “have not concluded that the operator’s actions contributed to the accident.”

Attorney Joseph Murphy, who represents many injured train 593 passengers, including Rogers, doesn’t buy it.

“I respectfully disagree with the NTSB,” Murphy said. “If you’re responsible for busing hundreds or thousands of passengers a day and you have a slight delay that could be caused by alcohol, that’s human error.”

Injured passengers who spoke with the I-Team were upset that it took nearly a year for details about the train operator’s blood-alcohol levels to be made public, and were offended for not having heard them from the CTA itself.

“The CTA needs to be held accountable here,” Murphy said.

The CTA directed all questions from the I-Team regarding the accident investigation to the NTSB, but said the driver of train 593 that day could face disciplinary action over those breathalyzer tests upon returning to work.

“The operator, in this case, is currently on inactive status due to his injuries from the accident,” Gonzales told the I-Team. “Employment action, if applicable, will take place upon return to active status.”

In response to questions from the I-Team about outdated braking distance design, CTA spokesperson Manny Gonzales said, “Design calculations for all lines installed 20 years or more ago have been examined and validated to ensure safe braking distances. »

As for the issue of leaf debris that contributed to the train’s inability to stop that day, Gonzales said, “The CTA has initiated an active cleaning program that is seasonal and related to leaf debris. Additionally, we are re-evaluating the equipment used for this. type of work.”

“We have also provided additional training to staff specifically to inspect for any accumulation of debris on the tracks and how to properly report it so that it can be addressed,” Gonzales said.

Rogers told the I-Team he still relies on the CTA to get around the city, but is now very cautious about his safety.

“I’m not afraid to ride on it, but I’m careful to sit near anything I can hit my head on,” Rogers told the I-Team. “It has wreaked havoc on my life.”