No One Injured When Amtrak Engine Runs Off Chicago Union Station Track

CHICAGO — The engine of an Amtrak train pulling into Union Station from Michigan on Friday afternoon derailed, but did not cause any injuries after workers were able to separate the train from the rest of its passenger cars, Amtrak officials said on Friday.

An Amtrak spokesman told Patch that after the engine lost contact with the tracks while pulling into the station, workers were able to limit any disruption by separating the engine from the rest of the Amtrak train following the minor accident.

While the accident caused minor delays, Amtrak officials said workers were able to get all of the incoming passengers off of the train's passenger cars within a short time. The spokesman said that no one was hurt and that all of the passengers are safe and “going about their business” as of Friday afternoon.

Amtrak officials said the service hopes to avoid any rush hour travel disruptions on Friday evening outside of perhaps minor delays to both Amtrak and Metra trains, both of which use the same tracks at Union Station.

Metra officials said that the derailment had kept some south concourse tracks from being used while crews tended to the Amtrak engine. Metra officials said that one train, which was bound for Aurora, may be operating on a 30-35-minute delay due to the derailment.