> What was left out by the media? Only that another signal was between the "Red Over Yellow" at the
> crossover, and the crash site, which signal was just plain "Red", because of a train ahead - as
> should be expected after a red over yellow.

>But that's not even the whole story. After the train had flagged past the red signal, *** a regular
> station stop ensued ***, followed by an approach to a slow ordered (and flagged) work-area.

> Not only was the train under the restriction of "flagging" a red signal, it was also under the
> restriction of the slow order. In addition, the train was governed at the time by the universal
> (federally imposed) "Delayed in block Rule", which requires that if a train stops for any reason
> (such as a station stop), it must then proceed to the next signal at slow speed (40mph or less).
> Of course, all railroad rulebooks require that when multiple governing conditions apply at the
> same time, the most restrictive condtion must apply.

OPB's analysis here of the rules and signal aspects is quite detailed and correct, but there's no "regular station stop(s)" for the Pere Marquette train between Union Station in Chicago and New Buffalo, MI, and there's nary a platform between 63rd st (the site where the train crossed over to the other track) and 52nd st (where the accident happened).

However, there certainly had to have been at least one intermediate signal between those two points, or someone has some explaining to do as to why the signals at the interlocked crossover displayed anything but a 'Stop' indication.