Cold Weather Blamed For Broken Train Rail In Mokena

CHICAGO (CBS)-- The cold weather is being blamed for a broken train rail in Mokena that took the 191st street crossing out of commission.

This incident comes months after a gate malfunction in November at the very same railroad crossing, which caused a train to narrowly miss several drivers. Metra released a video showing at least two different trains barreling towards drivers.

Residents are still rattled and want changes made to the crossing.

Saturday, the crossing gates remained down for an extended period of time with no train in sight.

Mokena resident Michael Anthony said he avoids this road now.

"I had to tell my father to take a whole different route to get to his doctor," he said.

After seeing the horrifying video from Metra, Anthony is not alone. Residents are rerouting their lives.

"Unbelievable, someone's going to get killed here, resident Teri Erickson said.

Metra said Saturday's issue was due to a broken rail and the gates stayed down in a fail-safe mode. Metra said unfortunately, extreme cold and snow can lead to several kinds of possible disruptions including broken rails.

Snow and ice can block and freeze a switch and prevent it from working. The electrical wiring that powers the signaling system is also very vulnerable to extreme cold and drifting snow.

"It messes with your head because you don't know if you should stop or not because if you do you're going to get rear ended," Anthony said. "And if you don't there's some train that's going to come through here it give you zero confidence in crossing this track."

This intersection also experienced a non-weather related problem two weeks ago when a semi truck got too close and damaged a crossing gate.

One driver had to pull over in a parking lot after the scary experience.

This driver, who asked not to be named, said she was rattled by a close call at the Wolf Road crossing on the same line just a mile to the west. She said she was crossing the track when she saw the train less than 100 feet away.

However, Metra said they couldn't find any evidence of a malfunction.

"It needs to be fixed because probably someones' going to get hurt and it sucks," Anthony said.

The Village of Mokena said they are aware of some of the recent concerns.

They sent a statement saying Metra will be making a presentation at Monday night's village meeting to address it all of it. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. and residents are encouraged to attend.