Union: Train Operator From O'Hare Derailment Worked 69 Hours Before Accident

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A CTA Blue Line train derailed and hit a platform at O'Hare International Airport about 2:55 a.m., Monday, March 24, 2014, in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio/ Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images) | Chicago Tribune via Getty Images

CHICAGO (AP) — A union for Chicago Transit Authority drivers says the operator of the train that crashed at O'Hare International Airport worked 69 hours in the seven days before the accident.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 President Robert Kelly said Friday that the operator's call-in status without a consistent work shift caused her to work "strange" hours, which was a factor in the crash.

Kelly says the operator is "torn to pieces" over the crash. He says the union will fight the CTA if it seeks to fire her.

A federal investigator looking into Monday's crash in which 32 passengers were injured. The investigator says the operator acknowledged she dozed off before the accident.

Workers removed the train from the O'Hare station Thursday. CTA officials say the station will reopen this weekend.

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