A commuter train collided with rail equipment Thursday morning in Chicago, injuring nearly 40 people, some of them critically, fire officials said. The city's Fire Department said the Chicago Transit Authority train crashed into snow-removal equipment just before 10:35am on the North Side near the Howard CTA station. The Yellow Line train carrying 31 commuters and seven CTA workers was southbound from Skokie when it collided with the slower-moving rail equipment, said Robert Jurewicz of the Chicago Fire Department. Thirty-eight people, including four children, were injured, the AP reports.
Twenty-three people were taken to hospitals, and three of those injured were in critical condition, though no one suffered life-threatening injuries, said Keith Gray, assistant deputy chief paramedic. The train's operator was among the most seriously hurt, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The children suffered bumps and bruises, the newspaper reported. He said the 15 others who were on the train declined medical treatment at the scene. The National Transportation Safety Board tweeted that it was sending a team to investigate the incident.
Shayla Smith, who was headed to work in Wilmette, had just boarded a Purple Line train at Howard when she heard the collision. She said passengers on her train began screaming. "I just heard like a horrible boom sound," she told the Sun-Times. "It was like a weird boom sound. It felt like we're going to tip over." Television video showed one end of the train crushed and pushed in. As passengers were led off the train, some were brought into a triage center lined with stretchers to be assessed, per the AP. At least 15 ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
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