Falling railroad tie from CTA el tracks wrecks car

A Wrigleyville area man is trying to get his car fixed after a railroad tie fell off the CTA el tracks and crashed through the roof of his car.  It was a few days before he was notified of the damage, and now his car may be a total loss.

The more important question is how and why the railroad tie fell from the tracks.  We wrote a few weeks ago about bolts falling from the CTA el tracks, and now a railroad tie has also come loose.  Considering that the bolts and tie and what hold the rails in place that the el trains run on, this should be a serious safety concern for CTA management, which is of course now pre-occupied with negotiating with CTA's unionized employees.

Having unstable rails is a sure-fire formula for a CTA el train derailment.  The CTA has actually had a handful of train derailments over the last few years, none of which resulted in serious injury.  However, the CTA is just one major breakdown from having the a derailment on par with the CTA Blue Line derailment from a few years ago, and this time, it will not be passengers emerging from smoke filled tunnels, but train cars falling from the tracks to the street below.

The CTA is a common carrier and owes its passengers a duty to exercise the highest degree of care for the safety of its passengers.  If the tracks that the trains run on are falling apart, it does not speak well of what the CTA is doing to meet that duty of care.