Chesterton Tribune

 

 

South Shore derailment on Metra track vexes rush hour

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By KEVIN NEVERS

The slow-speed derailment of a westbound South Shore commuter train in its approach to Millennium Station on Tuesday played havoc with the afternoon rush-hour, the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District is reporting.

The derailment occurred at approximately 2:35 p.m., when the wheels of two of the train’s six cars left the track in the tunnel north of the Van Buren Street Station, NICTD spokesman John Parsons told the Chesterton Tribune this morning.

All six of the cars remained upright, Parsons said. A passenger did sustain minor injuries during the train’s evacuation and was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, he added.

The cause of the derailment--which occurred on a Metra track--has not yet been determined, a Metra spokesman Michael Gillis told the Tribune. “It’s still under investigation,” he said.

Because the train derailed in single-track territory, however, the 18 South Shore cars being readied at Millennium Station for Tuesday’s afternoon rush hour were blocked and unable to leave. The South Shore was accordingly forced to run unscheduled eastbound service from Metra’s platform until around 8 p.m. “Whenever we could get a train onto their platform, we’d run one out of Chicago,” Parsons noted. After that, scheduled eastbound service did resume but--again--from Metra’s platform.

Meanwhile, westbound service into Chicago was interrupted “until we were able to stabilize the situation,” Parsons said, at which time it was resumed but similarly run to the Metra platform. “There were significant delays.”

Access to South Shore’s Millennium Station platform wasn’t restored until 6:30 a.m. today, Parsons said, with the morning’s second rush-hour train--No. 104--being the first to use it.

Westbound trains were mostly running on time this morning--though conditions were crowded as the number of cars per train was reduced--while those trains which had been blocked overnight at Millennium Station were being returned to Michigan City, Parsons said.

 

 

Posted 6/7/2017

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

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