No human is needed now to drive a train — anywhere in the country. This is all union crap and I will speculate that the driver of this train was drugged out.
Possible in principle — trains can be utterly automated. But I seriously doubt that this means they will cease to be staffed. The calamities guarded against by PTC are not the only ones that locomotives can face. PTC won’t see an obstruction or other abnormal condition of a track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elMXt00xyIU
And to add insult to injury, the CTA took over a year to replace the escalators. The poor air travelers had to schlep their suitcases up and down stairs for over a year.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/CTA-Replaces-Blue-Line-Escalator-at-OHare-297454301.html