Brown Line And Purple Line Service Resumes After Apparent Train Collision Near Sedgwick
CHICAGO (CBS) -- CTA Brown and Purple line trains have resumed normal service, with residual delays, more than an hour after two trains apparently collided Tuesday morning near the Sedgwick station in Old Town.
The CTA and Chicago Fire Department officials initially said a southbound Brown Line train collided with a southbound Purple Line train just north of the Sedgwick elevated station around 9:15 a.m. However, officials later said it was unclear if the trains actually made contact. The CTA said neither train derailed.
"From what we can see, there was no collision," Chicago Fire Department District Chief Tim Walsh said.
Thank you. And yes - only thing we can see out of our car window #3444 are firetrucks and crew. @cta instructor came to check on everyone in each car and used a key to open all windows. pic.twitter.com/pTDi81DlIN
— Lindsey Morrison (@LAMorrisonnn) September 24, 2019
CTA Chief Transit Officer Donald Bonds said the agency was investigating exactly what happened.
"We're not sure what happened yet. We've started to pull the video, and also interview the operator," Bonds said. "So we won't know until later today or early tomorrow morning exactly what happened in this situation."
"When I arrived on the scene, they were in the process of separating the contact that may have been made," Bonds added. "We were notified by the operators that potentially something had happened, and from there we responded along with CFD."
@Chicago_Scanner @CWBChicago @SPOTNEWSonIG I'm in the 4th car on brown line and that's a purple line in front of us that we ran in to. pic.twitter.com/Xqu9CdBlz2
— Shay (@_shayde2) September 24, 2019
Several passengers who were on the trains reported feeling a collision and being thrown from their seats.
Fire Department officials said there were no external injuries, but 14 people were taken to hospitals in good condition. It's unclear how many passengers were on the affected trains at the time.
Both of the trains involved in the collision began moving again shortly after 10:05 a.m., and passengers were allowed to get off at the Sedgwick stop.
Purple Line service was temporarily suspended between Howard and the Loop, and Brown Line service was temporarily suspended between Fullerton and Merchandise Mart after the incident, but the CTA said normal service was resuming around 10:30 a.m., with residual delays.
Here you can see the point of impact where a southbound Brown Line train collided with a southbound Purple Line train north of the Sedgwick station, CTA confirms to @cbschicago
— Marissa Parra (@MarParNews) September 24, 2019
CTA workers and Chicago FD seen here assessing train and passenger safety pic.twitter.com/bDiHAcUzDb