One Injured After Debris Falls From Union Station Ceiling
CHICAGO (CBS) -- One person was injured after being hit by concrete falling from the ceiling at Union Station, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
Union Station was also forced to close at least one track Tuesday night.
Firefighters responded to Union station at 5:06 p.m. and transported a 39-year-old man to Rush Hospital in stable condition, according to CFD.
Passengers who entered from Madison were greeted by a large metal gate covering much of the opening.
Police and yellow tape prevented riders from getting to the affected area.
This is not the first time this has happened. For years, a decaying Union Station had been increasingly dangerous for commuters.
"I noticed some conduit hanging and big chunks of collapsed concrete," rider Joe Kormos said.
He took pictures of parts of the ceiling coming down by the tracks inside Union Station.
Pictures from other commuters show the damage that some say could have easily injured more than one person.
Another passenger, Lee Vehe, says if the collapse had happened a few minutes later it would have been a different picture.
"Somebody would have been seriously injured. People cross on these platforms," Vehe said.
CBS 2 Investigators first exposed crumbing concrete and decaying ceilings and support beams at Union Station more than three years ago.
CBS 2's Dave Savini took a structural engineer around the tracks and he said the cracks looked structurally dangerous and "they can fall on passengers directly without warning."
They also found water constantly leaking through the ceiling. That made the floor so slippery that one woman needed two surgeries after she fell and shattered her ankle.
In 2016 a woman was hit by large chunks of more falling concrete.
It's one incident after another, and all of this makes Joe Kormos think he might change what he wears to commute from now on.
"Yeah, maybe put a helmet on," he said.
Amtrak manages and owns Union Station but the ceilings are actually owned and maintained by multiple other entities including the City of Chicago.
Track five was being used by Metra at the time of the incident and was taken out of service, but trains were rerouted there were no delays Tuesday.