Home>News Center>World
         
 

Two dead in Chicago train derailment
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-18 10:58

"Everyone was flying everywhere," she said.

Paul Sterk, a commodities broker at the Chicago Board of Trade, was sitting in the upper level of the third car.

"I've been riding the train for 20 years. You get used to the sound and the motion. I just felt it shift and in a second I grabbed hold of something," he said. "I knew we were off the tracks."

Dozens of emergency vehicles and two medical helicopters were called in, and workers put up three red triage tents to treat people near the tracks. City officials also called suburban emergency teams for help, said Fire department spokesman Larry Langford.

After the derailment, there was a 30-foot gap between two of the cars, one of which had severe damage at the front end. The other cars remained upright but had left the tracks. The speed limit is 15 mph in the area, Pardonnet said. She did not know how fast the train was going.

The engineer was "badly shaken" and taken to a hospital for routine drug tests, Pardonnet said. He has been operating Metra trains for 45 days, following six months of training that included trial runs on the same Joliet-to-Chicago route, and also spent more than five years as a CSX Corp. freight train engineer, she said.

Two years ago, there was another accident on the same line within a block of Saturday's derailment, but Pardonnet said that may have been just a coincidence. Inspectors had determined afterward that there had been no structural damage.

"I don't think it's anything specific to this area, but it's still under investigation," she said.


Page: 12



Clinton Global Initiative Summit
Schwarzenegger seeks re-election in 2006
Suicide bombing kills at least 152 in Iraq
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

President Hu ends 10-day trip with call for co-operation

 

   
 

China sets up new oil group to meet demands

 

   
 

China's North Korea proposal hits snags

 

   
 

Summit endorses watered-down UN reform

 

   
 

Mainland population below 1.37 billion by 2010

 

   
 

Music giants sue Baidu over music downloads

 

   
  Chavez: US plans to invade Venezuela
   
  Iran offers to bring foreign firms in program
   
  Two dead in Chicago train derailment
   
  Rescuers find 76-year-old survivor in New Orleans
   
  German election marks crossroads
   
  WHO warns of a world-wide bird flu epedemic
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
At least 50 killed in Japan train derailment
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement