UPDATES WITH ADDITIONAL FATALITY, PER METRA
Two people died and three others were injured when a Metra train struck a vehicle Monday afternoon near the Chicago border with southwest suburban Hometown, officials said.
The front-seat passenger, a woman believed to be in her 20s, was killed, according to Hometown police. Another person, whose age and gender were not known Monday evening, was also killed, Metra spokesman Michael Gillis said Monday evening.
Initially, four people were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and one to Holy Cross Hospital, police said.
Two other back-seat passengers were seriously injured, and the driver suffered minor injuries. Everyone in the car, except the child, is believed to be in their 20s, police said.
Outbound Metra Southwest Service train No. 815, scheduled to arrive in Manhattan at 1:57 p.m., struck a vehicle near 87th and Pulaski about 1:20 p.m., according to Metra’s website. The train was running 50 minutes behind schedule as of 2:08 p.m.
All other inbound and outbound trains are operating up to 15 minutes behind schedule between Ashburn and Oak Lawn because of “ongoing signal problems” related to the crash, according to the Metra website.
Witnesses told police the train signals went down behind the vehicle and it couldn’t get around because of the snow, according to Hometown police.
No passengers on the train were injured, according to the Hometown Fire Department.
