Print This StoryAt Least 13 Injured In Multi-Car Metra Collision
One Car Reportedly On Fire
Video: Multi-Vehicle CrashUpdated Images: Sky5
Metra Updates
Anne Dillon, a spokeswoman for Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, said two people involved in the accident were brought to the hospital. The victims, both female, were in serious condition, she said.
Four people were taken to Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, but none had life-threatening injuries, said nursing supervisor Pete Eget.
Elmwood Park is northwest of Chicago. The rail crossing cuts through a busy diagonal intersection that runs into Chicago. A street sign aside the tracks reads, "Long crossing. Do not stop on the tracks."
The train had just passed through a station shortly before the accident, likely without stopping, Metra spokesman Patrick Waldron said.
"It was not scheduled to stop there," he said.
At least one of the vehicles burst into flames as a result of the accident, which occurred just before 5 p.m. in Elmwood Park, Waldron said. Emergency crews from several neighboring communities were dispatched to the scene.
"I turned the news on and that's how we found out," said neighborhood resident Linda Tipia. "That's when we first saw the report. I have daughters who work in the area, so I immediately became concerned about them, so I started making phone calls to make sure they were safe."
Metra spokeswoman Audrey Renteria said she did not know whether gates that halt traffic at the intersection were working when the accident occurred.
Witnesses gave conflicting reports Wednesday as to whether the gates were up or down.
Christina Rodriguez, 29, of Chicago said she was driving eastbound on Grand Avenue when her car and several others were trapped between the crossing gate arms that came down.
"I saw the train lights," she said. "I tried to move but I couldn't move. Nobody moved." She said that she jumped from her car seconds before the crash and ran to safety.
John Pease, 32, who lives across from the accident site, said he did not see any warning lights flashing when he looked out his apartment window and saw the end of the accident.
"The gates were definitely up," Pease said, adding that he saw the gates come down after the collision.
The train struck five vehicles, setting off a chain reaction that ultimately involved about a dozen vehicles, Waldron said.
Allan Pollack, a passenger on the train, said the train was moving 50 to 60 miles and hour at the time of the accident. The passengers aboard the train appeared not to have suffered any major injuries, Sky5's Mike Lorber reported. Several ambulances were on the scene of the crash.
"We couldn't see anything, we could only hear things, because it was pretty dark outside when this occurred," Pollack said. "We felt the train trying to stop fast, and we got jerked around a little bit. Then the train stopped within 30 seconds of that attempt to stop real fast."
Pollack said the train was just past the River Grove station and was going between 50 andn 60 miles per hour, because we were two to three minutes past the station. Pollack said the train was a local train, but the next stop was not to be until the O'Hare stop.
"It wasn't that big of a jostling, there wasn't actually things falling on the floor. There was a little bit of a commotion when we heard the news what happened, but we had no idea what was happening because it was a very slight pull when we felt the train trying to stop very fast."
Greg Sandford said he had driven across the tracks in stop-and-go traffic when he saw in his rear view mirror the accident.
"The van in front of me stopped short and I stopped and the train just plowed through," said Sandford, a 27-year-old engineer from Chicago.
"The train hit maybe six or eight cars and they hit other cars and they careened into my car," said Sandford, who said that because the traffic was so slow he was only about five car lengths away from the tracks when the accident occurred. He also said there were no flashing lights at the tracks when he crossed.
Sandford said the train was an express train that not stopped in Elmwood Park. "It was going at a good clip," he said.
The train, which left Chicago's Union Station at 4:25 p.m., and was headed for Antioch, was probably carrying several hundred passengers when the accident occurred, although all of the injuries appear to have occurred outside the train, Waldron said.
Norman Seiff, who was on the scene, said police were diverting traffic around the scene, and described the side streets as "one big traffic jam." Seiff said he counted 15 cars that were involved in the accident.
"We didn't hear a thing," Seiff said. "We just started looking out the window and we saw the police cars and the fire engines race to the area. We opened the window and we could smell the smoke and we saw papers flying."
Lee Santucci of Elmwood Park was walking in the area shortly after the accident.
"I saw one car burning on the tracks," he said.
Emergency crews from several neighboring communities were dispatched to the scene.
Metra says the train was probably carrying several hundred passengers when the collision occurred.
Copyright 2005 by NBC5.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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