BUCKTOWN — Two cars driven by a husband and wife were stuck on an outbound Metra railroad line between North and Armitage Avenues in Bucktown near the Kennedy Expy., police and Metra workers said.
A Union Pacific Northwest Metra train that was headed toward the North/Clybourn station was halted around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday because an SUV was on the train tracks. The train hit one of the cars, police said.
Police sources told DNAinfo that the driver of the first car somehow drove onto the tracks after following directions from her GPS navigational system. The driver of the second car, an SUV, then followed the first car onto the tracks, police said.
The driver of the SUV was the husband of the car's driver, police said.
The cars were initially thought to have both been driving on the westbound North Avenue ramp to enter the Kennedy Expy., police said. There is also an additional ramp in that vicinity off Ashland Avenue used by Metra workers only, and police believe it's possible the couple could have driven up that ramp onto the tracks presuming it was the entrance to the highway.
The car avoided getting hit by the train, but the SUV was struck after attempting a U-Turn to get off the tracks, police said. The driver of the SUV refused medical treatment but was shaken up, police said.
Around 8:20 p.m., a tow truck was on the scene to remove both cars from the tracks before the train, which still had passengers in it, could continue moving. The driver of the car was sitting in the driver's seat of her car and her husband was next to her in the passenger seat as his SUV was towed first.
Michael Gillis, a Metra spokesman, said all evening trains were delayed by about an hour and the passengers on the train involved "saw a closer to two hour delay" before it got moving again a little after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Car on Metra tracks #bucktown @DNAinfoCHI Westbound train stalled pic.twitter.com/9ceXWcebib
— Alisa Hauser (@DNA_WPB) December 21, 2016
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