Derailment Snags 3 'L' Lines Near Belmont Avenue
UPDATED 04/19/11 11:17 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A minor derailment caused major delays on the Red, Brown and Purple 'L' lines Tuesday morning.
The Chicago Transit Authority says a train car derailed at the Clark Junction, over Clark Street just south of Roscoe Street, where Red and Brown Line trains split off to head north and west, respectively.
At about 8:47 a.m., the northbound Brown Line train was turning over a track switch toward the Belmont station, when part of the train made the switch and part of the train did not. The train ended up on two separate sets of tracks.
The junction is a couple of blocks north of the near the busy Belmont 'L' stop, which serves all three lines.
First responders had to escort 13 passengers from the train car down a catwalk back to the 'L' stop, reports said.
Everyone got off the train safely and no injuries were reported, officials said.
But according to the CTA Web site, the Red, Brown and Purple lines all experienced "major delays" near Belmont.
As of 11:10 a.m., power had been restored to the affected tracks and trains were resuming normal operations.
After the derailment, the CTA had suspended Brown Line trains between Fullerton and Southport and Red Line trains between Fullerton and Addison.
Purple Line Express trains were also suspended.
Shuttle buses were set up between the Brown and Red Line stations where trains were not operating after the derailment and the CTA said those buses would continue running for about half an hour after train service was restored at 11:10 a.m.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
