On the day of the accident, the “Shawnee” train (operating number 392) from Carbondale to Chicago, Illinois, was made up of Amtrak GE P30CH unit No.

715 was one of Amtrak's newest locomotive units at the time of the accident, having entered service in September 1975.

The Superliners were less than a year old at the time of the accident, leaving the Pullman-Standard factories for Amtrak between December 1978 and July 1979.

The railroad yard at Harvey is situated on the Metra Electric District (at the time operated by the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)).

The RTA-operated line ended at University Park, Illinois, but the other tracks used by the ICG led to Carbondale, and onwards to New Orleans.

Switch-tenders at the time were equipped with Motorola MT500 walkie-talkies, to ease the communications between the ICG staff.

Train directors should supervise and record all movements against the flow of traffic, tagging his board as well as insuring that the leverman or switch-tender make similar arrangements at their locations... Plan ahead for train and engine movements by securing line-up, etc.

Assuming that this was the passenger train mentioned in the telephone communication, he proceeded to the switch and unlocked it.

At this point, both the engineer and fireman saw the targets on the switch show green, meaning continuing to go on a straight path.

The switch-tender saw a headlight coming from the south and believed that it was a slow-moving freight train.

He shouted a warning to the engineer, who applied the emergency brakes and blasted a long, continuous horn, which was heard by the switch-tender.

Other damages included ruptured fuel tanks and the crushed cab in the fireman's position.

The crew members of the Amtrak locomotive made no efforts to leave the engine room, and Fireman Murray sat on the floor at the time of the accident, facing forward with his feet against the front wall.

Engineer Taksas had no recollection from the moment of the accident, but it is likely he struck the radio controls during the impact and subsequent rollover of the locomotive, as this equipment was found damaged.

The only other serious injury was located in the fourth car, where the snackbar counter collapsed, injuring and trapping the attendant.

Five passengers were hospitalized for more than 48 hours, whilst another 33 left the accident with cuts, bruises, sprains and concussions.

The signals and braking systems on the Amtrak train were tested, and were operating correctly.

It was considered that "at no time is the new employee provided with adequate information on the switch-tender's position, nor does he receive student training before taking up this job".

It was determined that one of the factors into this crash was the short period of instruction, which could not allow him to become familiar with the physical layout of the switches, tracks, etc.