Driver Said GPS Led Him To Elevated Tracks, Collision With Metra Train
(CBS) -- No injuries were reported Tuesday night after at least one car collided with an outbound Metra train near Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood on elevated railroad tracks.
As many as two separate vehicles may have been involved. Radio emergency transmissions indicate a male driver was led to the spot -- along elevated railroad tracks near Ashland Avenue and the Kennedy Expressway -- after trying to follow directions from a GPS device.
"Talking with EMS," a first-responder said on emergency radio, "apparently GPS led him and another driver up here off of Armitage. ... They started to turn around when they got hit by the train."
The incident involving the Union Pacific/Northwest Line train occurred around 6 p.m. near Ashland and the Kennedy Expressway, Metra spokesperson Michael Gillis said. The northbound train hit an unoccupied car that was on the tracks or parked too near them, he said.
Service in both directions was delayed. Around 8 p.m., many of the original passengers were transferred to a replacement train that continued northward.
Further information was not available.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire copy; Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
