Marathon Pundit: CTA fires operator who drove train up escalator

Closed O'Hare CTA station last week

Despite being a member of a public-sector union, the Chicago Transit Authority was able to fire an el train driver whose train ended up on escalator.

From AP:

Chicago transit officials have fired a train operator who acknowledged dozing off before crashing a commuter train at the O'Hare International Airport station.

The March 24 crash injured more than 30 passengers and sent the eight-car train barreling over the platform and up an escalator leading into the airport. It caused millions of dollars' worth of damage.

The operator was fired Friday, said Chicago Transit Authority spokesman Brian Steele.

A federal investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board said last week that the driver told him she dozed off before the crash and had done so on another occasion in February when she overshot a station platform. She had been operating trains for only two months and was an extra-board employee, meaning she filled in for other drivers who called in sick or were on vacation.