Collision of Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation
(METRA) Train
and Transportation Joint Agreement School District 47/155 School Bus
at Railroad/Highway Grade Crossing
in Fox River Grove, Illinois
October 25, 1995
NTSB Number: HAR-96/02
NTIS Number: PB96-916202
PDF Document (738K)
Abstract: This report explains the collision of a Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation commuter train with a Transportation Joint Agreement School District 47/155 school bus that was stopped at a railroad/highway grade crossing in Fox River Grove, Illinois on October 25, 1995. Seven school bus passengers were killed and the bus driver and 24 bus passengers were injured.
From its investigation of this accident, the Safety Board identified the following safety issues: the appropriateness of the bus driver's performance; the adequacy of the school district bus routing and bus driver monitoring and evaluating procedures; the road design; the railroad/highway signal interaction; the coordination and communication between the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Union Pacific Railroad Company and their oversight of the signal system integration; and the injury and survival factors in the school bus.
As a result of its investigation of this accident, the Safety Board made recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the State of Illinois, the Illinois Department of Tranportation, the Tranportation Joint Agreement School District 47/155, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the National Association of County Engineers, the American Public Works Association, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Association of American Railroads, the American Short Line Railroad Association, the American Public Transit Association, and Operation Lifesaver, Inc. The Safety Board also issued urgent action recommendations following this accident to the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the State Directors of Transportation.
