CTA Train Strikes Car On NW Side
Updated 11/28/10 10:42 a.m.
CHICAGO (STMW) - A motorist and a CTA train operator were hospitalized Sunday morning when a CTA Brown Line train struck a car in the Albany Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
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A CTA Brown Line train struck a vehicle at 7:10 a.m. in the 4600 block of North Kedzie Avenue, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.
The northbound Brown Line train would have been just leaving the station when it hit the vehicle that was on the tracks, causing the front wheels of the train car to come off the tracks, according to CTA spokeswoman Wanda Taylor.
The crossing gates there would have been in the "down" position and preliminary information indicates they were working properly at the time of the incident.
The tracks are at street level there, according to Taylor who said the platform sustained damage.
The driver of the car was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in serious to critical condition, according to Fire Media Affairs Chief Joe Roccasalva. The train operator, who was "shaken up" was taken in good condition to Illinois Masonic "just to get checked out," Roccasalva said.
No passengers on the train were injured, he said. The crash caused the train to derail, Roccasalva said.
The approximately 15 passengers aboard were escorted off the train through its rear cars by CTA employees, Taylor said.
As of 10:15 a.m. there were still delays, and service on the Brown Line has been suspended in both directions between the Kimball and Western stations. A shuttle bus remains in operation between those stations to take passengers to their destinations, Taylor said.
The site said they are working to restore service as quickly as possible, but riders should allow extra travel time.
Taylor said the damage to the platform did not render it unusable, but said it was not immediately known how long it would take for the repairs to be completed.
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