Elderly Woman Struck, Killed By Metra Train In McHenry County
MCHENRY COUNTY, Ill. (CBS) -- An elderly woman was killed by a Metra train overnight when she apparently got lost in McHenry County, began driving on the railroad tracks and then got out of her car and began walking along the tracks.
Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile said an outbound Metra Northwest Line train struck a woman at about 8:20 p.m. Sunday as it was about to arrive at the Harvard station in unincorporated McHenry County.
McHenry County Sheriff's police said the woman – identified as Gloria Carla Jacobs, 86, of McHenry – was unfamiliar with the roadways and got lost.
For unknown reasons she drove onto the railroad tracks at the Brink Street crossing and continued to drive eastbound between two sets of tracks until her vehicle became stuck, police said.
Jacobs then got out of her car and continued to walk eastbound on the tracks. She was then struck by the Metra train, which was carrying about 120 passengers, according to the release.
It took several hours to remove Jacobs' vehicle from the tracks, obtain a replacement locomotive engineer and repair an air hose on the engine, police said.
The sheriff's office and McHenry County Coroner's office are continuing to investigate.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
