Service Resumes After Red Line Train Derails Near Armitage
UPDATED: 5/9/2013 - 4:10 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Red Line and Brown Line resumed service on Thursday afternoon after a train car derailed on the North Side, creating a commuter nightmare for riders trying to get downtown.
Both lines were shut down for nearly four hours, placing a choke-hold on commuters trying to get from the North Side to downtown.
A Red Line train "jumped the tracks" at Armitage around 11:30 a.m., according to dispatch reports. Power along the tracks was turned off.
An alert on the CTA website confirmed the derailment and crews worked to restore service and moved passengers from the derailed train.
Two passengers, who are students at DePaul University, were on the derailed train and feared the car was going to fall over the edge of the elevated tracks. They told CBS 2's Susanna Song that it took about 45 minutes before they were able to get off the train.
"It go really bumpy," said John Zermeno. "Then it started getting smoky and then it started rocking back and forth. That's when we got scared."
Emergency crews reported the seventh car of an eight-car southbound Red Line train derailed as it approached the Armitage Brown Line station.
According to the Fire Department, 64 passengers were safely removed from the train onto the nearby platform. Another 100 passengers were transferred to another train that pulled alongside.
Red Line trains were not running between Belmont and Grand. Brown Line trains were not running between Belmont and the Loop.
Service resumed around 3 p.m.
The CTA set up shuttle buses between the affected areas.
There were no reports of injuries.
