Crime & Safety

VIDEO: Train Derails, Collapses Bridge Near Glenview-Northbrook

A freight train carrying coal from Wyoming to a utility plant in Wisconsin derailed around 1:45 p.m. this afternoon; no injuries were reported. According to officials, this is the second derailment at this location in the last several years.

 

A bridge overpass near the Glenview-Northbrook border collapsed earlier today after a freight train derailed on the Union Pacific tracks near Willow and Shermer Roads, The Chicago Tribune reports.  

According to Union Pacific officials, the train had three locomotive engines and four of its 138 cars had derailed, though there were no reported injuries.

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Northbrook's Village Board President Sandy Frum was at the scene after the derailment, surveying the damage and talking to police. 

"As far as we can tell no one was involved," she said. "It's horrible at any point to have a train derailment, we're lucky it was no worse than what it is."

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Crews were sent to the area around 1:45 p.m., according to police, and witnesses said a small fire was also observed.

There was another derailment in November 2009 at the same location, officials said. 

Jashwant Patel, who owns a Subway near where the accident occurred, told the Sun-Times the bridge was repaired recently. It reopened in October 2011. 

“This bridge was closed for three months last year while it was fixed and they said it would last 100 years,” Patel told the Sun-Times. “It’s the 4th of July and it hasn’t even lasted a year.”

Above, watch footage caught on video by local witness Wilbur William. Stay tuned to Patch for more details as they become available.

For more on the story, including witness reactions, click here.


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