Public Given Chance To Discuss Deadly Train Wreck With Railroad Executives
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (CBS) -- The public will get a chance to meet Monday evening with railroad executives and federal investigators about the deadly 4th of July derailment and bridge collapse on the Glenview-Northbrook border.
As CBS 2's Kris Habermehl reports, Union Pacific railroad executives and officials from the Federal Railroad Administration, will be at the meeting at the Sheely Center for the Performing Arts at Glenbrook North High School, at 2300 Shermer Rd. in Northbrook.
Thirty-one of the cars on the 138-car freight train derailed as it was crossing the bridge over Shermer Road at Willow Road around 1:45 p.m. on Wednesday, July 4, spilling a massive amount of coal. The train was hauling coal from Wyoming to Wisconsin at the time.
Initially, authorities said no one had been injured in the wreck, but crews cleaning up the debris found a bumper on Thursday, and eventually dug out the crushed car, and found the two bodies inside.
The bodies were those of Burton and Zorine Lindner -- 69 and 70 years old, respectively –- whose car was crushed as they drove under the bridge when it collapsed.
They were on their way to a movie at the time.
Cook County Judge William Maddox had a request from the Lindner family's attorneys last week to temporarily halt cleanup of the wreck, in order to preserve evidence for their lawsuit against Union Pacific.
Currently, a temporary fix is in place as the cleanup continues, with Shermer Road blocked off by a mound of gravel until the line is up and running again.
Meanwhile, the deceased couple's son, Robert Lindner, filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court two days after the accident. The family has also retained personal injury attorney Robert Clifford to represent them.
The suit cites alleged negligence in the couple's deaths.
