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.