At 7:11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, 1995, the No. 624 Chicago-bound commuter train ripped the shell of a school bus from its chassis and hurled into a traffic light 45 feet southwest of Route 14 in Fox River Grove.

The bus driver drove over the train tracks and stopped a couple of feet past the white line at the traffic signal. She thought the bus was clear of the tracks, but the back of the bus hung about 4 feet over the rail right-of-way.

When the warning signal of the approaching train began, the assumption was that the green light letting traffic pull away from the tracks allowed a 7-second cushion of time to clear the tracks. In reality, this cushion was down to two seconds - barely enough time to react.

Union Pacific Railroad admitted changing the timing of its signals on Oct. 12, 1995, only 13 days before the crash. And when rail and highway workers made circuitry changes that affected the signal system as a whole, they didn't tell their counterparts.

Seven Cary-Grove High School students were killed; the bus driver and 27 others were injured. Jeffrey Clark, 16; Michael Hoffman, 14; Joseph Kalte, 16; and Shawn Robinson, 14 were killed instantly. Susana Gusman, 18; Stephanie Fulham, 15; and Tiffany Schneider died later at area hospitals.

In the aftermath, the crash site has been designated Seven Angels Crossing in memory of the students who died.

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