- The two trains were on the same track when they collided at around 10.30am
- Four children are among the injured and 23 have been taken to hospital
- ‘The train was much faster and it rear-ended the plow,’ said the Chicago Fire Department
- This is a breaking news story
Three people are critically ill and 35 others were hurt after a passenger strain collided with a snow plow on a busy commuter line near the center of Chicago.
Fifteen ambulances have already been dispatched to the scene of the crash between two trains on the same line 300 yards outside Howard Station in the Rogers Park neighborhood shortly after 10.30am today.
The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) officials said all 38 people on board were checked by medics and a two-year-old was among four children injured.
Twenty three people had been taken to hospital with another 15 treated at the scene.
Shayla Smith heard the crash as she boarded a Purple Line train at Howard and said passengers on her train began screaming.
‘I just heard like a horrible boom sound,’ she told the Chicago Sun-Times.
‘It felt like we’re gonna tip over and I was wondering what’s going on? My body shivered.’
The crash happened shortly after 10.30am on Thursday morning in the Rogers Park neighborhood
Ambulances lined the nearby roads as at least 15 were sent to deal with the injured
In a statement the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) said: ‘According to preliminary information, at approximately 10.39am we received a report of a Yellow Line train making contact with rail equipment in the Howard Rail Yard.
‘Both Yellow and Purple Line service has been suspended.’
The CTA train was ‘traveling at its normal speed’ when it hit the snow plow which was ‘not traveling very fast at all,’ CFD District Chief Robert Jurewicz said.
Both were traveling in the same direction but the train was moving at about 30 mph while the plow was at a ‘slow crawl’ of about 10 mph, his colleague Larry Langford said.
‘The train was much faster and it rear-ended the plow.’
The passenger train was headed southbound from the suburb of Skokie, Illinois toward the north Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park.
Seven of the injured are CTA staff.
CFD Assistant Deputy Chief Keith Gray said most of the injuries were bumps and bruises, with a few head injuries.
Passengers on a train in nearby Evanston had to be evacuated when the CTA cut power to the Purple Line in the wake of the accident.
Some people were treated at the scene for ‘bumps and bruises’ but three are in a critical state
The CTA train was ‘traveling at its normal speed’ when it hit the snow plow which was ‘not traveling very fast at all,’ CFD District Chief Robert Jurewicz said
The Chicago Fire Department officials said four children were among the injured
‘My administration is closely monitoring the train derailment on the North Side and will direct any available resources needed,’ Governor JB Pritzker posted on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Thank you to the CFD firefighters and first responders on the scene.’
The city’s Yellow Line is currently suspended while there are major delays reported on the Red and Purple Lines.
