CTA train operator worked long hours before 2014 crash at O'Hare, documents show

Brittney Haywood was exhausted as the CTA Blue Line train she piloted sped toward the end of the route at the O'Hare stop one year ago.

“I was operating normal up until I reached O'Hare,” she told National Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Ted Turpin a day after the train she operated hit a bumper post and bounced onto an escalator, injuring numerous passengers March 24, 2014.

“I was tired. I didn't get any sleep the day before, I might ... I have ... I became sleepy and I nodded off,” Haywood testified, according to documents released by the NTSB Thursday.

Haywood took overtime assignments regularly.

“I just always, since I was young, love to work. My first job I received at 14, so I just always been a hard worker; I love work. You know, it keeps me out of trouble, it keeps me focused.”

Prior to the Monday, March 24, 2014, crash, Haywood had worked the proceeding Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This included a day shift Thursday, an overnight shift Friday, an overnight shift Saturday and then the fateful overnight shift that started Sunday at 8:40 p.m.

She only got a few hours of sleep Saturday, March 23, but had a good rest Sunday, Haywood said.

A week prior, she worked from 11:30 p.m. March 16 to 6:47 a.m. March 18 with just five hours off, she testified.

Asked if she was tired leaving Rosemont station before O'Hare, Haywood said, “no, I was pretty much still aware. I loaded the majority of my passengers at Rosemont, and I remember leaving Rosemont.”

Asked about handling late-night shifts, she explained, “you know, my body has to adapt to staying up all throughout the night, you know, adjust to the schedule. But it's mainly just doing those trips back and forth, and once you get to the last one, you know, you tend to get tired on the last trip.”

She also recounted working 11 days in a row without a day off.

Using fatigue as a reason for skipping work is “not a legitimate excuse,” she said. “You can't say you're too tired to come in.” Such a breach of policy if repeated four times would result in dismissal, she testified.

It was the second time Haywood had dozed off while driving a train.

Haywood was hired in April 2013, and worked as a flagger. She later qualified to run trains in January 2014. When the crash occurred at O'Hare, she had 60 days of experience driving trains. She was fired April 4, 2014.

Officials with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 said a culture of overtime at the agency put Haywood in a difficult position and that her call-in status had caused her to work abnormal hours, making fatigue a factor.

CTA administrators said there was nothing about the operator's work schedule that suggests fatigue should have been a factor and that she worked 55.7 hours in the seven days prior to the incident.

The CTA did revise its scheduling rules for train operators, including increasing the minimum rest time between shifts from eight to 10 hours and requiring employees to take at least one day off in any seven-day period.