‘Never goes away’: Survivor recalls bus-train crash that killed 7 teens 30 years ago in Fox River Grove

About a month ago, attorney Bob Hanaford went through an old storage unit in Fox River Grove and cleaned out thousands of reports, newspaper clippings and exhibits he had from years of representing seven teen survivors of the 1995 fatal train and bus crash that rocked his town.

Saturday marks the 30th anniversary of the day a Metra express train struck a school bus in the heart of the village, killing seven Cary-Grove High School students and injuring many more – devastating the tight-knit community and thrusting it into the national spotlight.

Hanaford, a Fox River Grove trustee at the time, saw the scene about a half-hour after the morning crash. He described it as “a battlefield.”

“I think about this case at some point probably every day,” he said.

The crash occurred when a substitute school bus driver crossed the rail line at Algonquin Road and Northwest Highway, stopping for a red light a short distance beyond. More than 3 feet of the rear of the bus, however, had not cleared the tracks.

The Metra train, going at least 60 mph, slammed into the back of the bus, spinning the body off its chassis.

Killed were Jeffrey Clark, 16; Stephanie Fulham, 15; Susanna Guzman, 18; Michael Hoffman, 14; Joe Kalte, 16; Shawn Robinson, 14; and Tiffany Schneider, 15. All but four of the 35 students on the bus were injured.

Hanaford and other attorneys helped secure some $27 million in settlements that led to rail crossing safety changes. Those included placing traffic lights before railroad tracks, adding more markers and signs, and improving interconnections between rail and traffic signals to give vehicles more time to clear the tracks when a train is approaching.

Though there were “multiple failures” that day, Hanaford said one of the biggest was faulty sequencing between traffic and railroad lights.

Hanaford, now based in Florida and still practicing law, said at the time he was being considered for a job as general counsel for the Illinois State Police. But once the crash happened, he stayed in private practice to take on those families’ cases.

“Would I do it again? I probably would. I was out over half a million dollars in expenses, and it had its effect on certainly my mental health, I think, to a large extent,” he said. “I don’t want to ever make this thing about me because I was honored to represent these people.”

A student survivor

Jason Kedrok was a 15-year-old sophomore seated just a couple of rows in front of where the train struck the bus. He suffered a concussion and bruised ribs.

Thirty years later, he works as a training captain at the Fox River Grove Fire Protection District part-time and as a firefighter full-time in Arlington Heights. Both stations sit near train tracks, and Kedrok still gets chills sometimes when he hears train horns.

“It actually never goes away,” he said.

Kedrok was already a Fox River Grove fire department cadet at the time of the crash. Now, he runs his own business with his wife repairing fire apparatuses and teaches fire service classes at McHenry County College.

From time to time, he’ll see the crash referenced in educational materials, which can be an “unexpected slap in the face.” It came up again in his daughter’s driver’s education class.

“It’s unique ... how it keeps popping up through different avenues of information,” he said, “things I never expected (to have) to deal with or prepare” for.

Kedrok hopes that when people reflect on this year’s anniversary that they take time to spend with loved ones “because life is too short.”

“Just love your family,” he said.

A fire chief’s legacy

Fox River Grove Fire Protection District Chief Robert Kreher was five months into his leadership position when the crash occurred steps away from the fire station.

Kreher remains fire chief, saying he maybe has a couple years left in him before he retires. Over 46 years working at Fox River Grove, that crash was by far the worst.

The department honors the victims at a memorial with statues, a plaque and flowers near the site dubbed “Seven Angels Crossing.”

“With the memorial there, I think when people drive by, they still remember what took place that day,” Kreher said.

A couple of fire district trustees and their families take care of the memorial.

One of the department’s ambulances bears the numbers 657 in remembrance of the lives that were lost. The “7” is designed with a halo and angel wings.

There’s also a Friendship Circle at Cary-Grove High School and a memorial outside the Fox River Grove library.

The annual Seven Angels Blood Drive, in partnership with nonprofit blood bank Vitalant, this year takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the fire station, at 411 Algonquin Road.

“It’s a reminder that any day, something like this can happen,” Kreher said in a Vitalant news release. “Those students needed blood at the hospital. You never know when someone will need it, and giving today can help save someone’s life tomorrow.”

Changes in rail safety

A report published by the National Transportation Safety Board in 1996 found a multitude of missteps caused the horrific accident. They include the Illinois Department of Transportation’s failure to recognize the short queuing area for vehicles, insufficient green light time to clear the intersection, the school district’s failure to recognize hazards in its bus routes and unclear communication between highway and railroad signal systems.

The faulty traffic signals were noticed before by former Fox River Grove Police Chief Robert Polston, who died in 2022. He was sitting with a traffic engineer watching the intersection from across the road to observe the very problems that contributed to the crash that morning.

“He actually witnessed the accident,” Kreher said.

Another factor was that a substitute bus driver, Patricia Catencamp, was driving the route for the first time. She could not be reached for comment.

Inside the bus that day, students in the back saw the train’s approach. They yelled “A train is coming,” “we’re still on the tracks,” “move the bus” and “I think we’re gonna get hit by a train,” according to the report.

The bus driver told investigators she could hear the students making noise, but did not hear their warnings about the train, the report states. She also said she did not hear the train horn, the crossing bell or the sound of the gate striking the bus.

“She said that she was not aware that a train was coming until it had struck the bus,” the report said.

The NTSB applauded the emergency response efforts made by multiple departments that day.

In the aftermath, school bus routing was improved, driver training was enhanced, train lights became brighter and thousands of “interconnects” were installed that link traffic signals to train systems so vehicles have enough time to clear the tracks.

“It really changed the crossings across the country,” Kreher said.