Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Investigators are busy this evening trying to figure out what caused an Amtrak train to crash into a freight train on the South Side.

It happened just before noon near 47th and Shields. Dozens of passengers were rushed to the hospital.

Police tell us there's a security camera focused on this stretch of South Side track. The video already turned over to investigators. It'll show the crash, but we already know what happened this morning. What we don't know yet, is why.

Inch by inch Friday night, a powerful crane lifted the Amtrak engine off the crushed box car. Crews then started trying to clear and repair the mangled tracks, the only way in and out of Chicago for Amtrak's Michigan and East Coast service.

Investigators have begun trying to pinpoint the cause of the collision between freight and passenger trains which, on normal days, safely share the stretch of track just south of U.S. Cellular Field.

Amtrak spokesman Derrick James said, "It appears the evacuation was orderly ... it's been quite a while since we've had an accident of this nature."

The accident sent passengers on Amtrak's Pere Marquette train 371, some bruised and bloodied, spilling out of the train. Officials said 71 people were hospitalized, most of them with bumps and bruises, but at least five people were seriously injured.

Passengers say the train never slowed before ramming the rear end of the stopped freight train.

Passenger Sara Fazio said, "I landed on my, actually face down, on the aisle and somebody landed on my back and broke his head open, it was scary."

The most seriously hurt, crew members in the passenger train's engine, which rode right up onto the back of the 20th and last car of a stopped Norfolk Southern freight train, crushing it beneath its hundred-ton weight.

It happened just before noon on a crystal clear day, along a straight as an arrow stretch of track.

Incredibly, the engine remained upright, piggy-back atop the box car. Had it toppled over, it would almost certainly have pulled the passenger cars with it, causing far more and more serious injuries among the 187 passengers on board the double-decker train from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Chicago's Union Station.

Passenger Coert Vanderhill said, "The most you'll see is people like me with a cut face and some knees that were bruised."

The questions for investigators on Friday: Did passenger train run a red signal? Did its brakes fail? Did the freight stop where it shouldn't have? Was there human error? All questions being considered tonight by the National Transportation Safety Bureau's "Go Team," which has been on the ground for just a few hours, launching an investigation that will take months.

An NTSB official said Friday night that the locomotive of the Amtrak train had an event recorder, similar to the black boxes on airplanes, that would record the train's speed, throttle position, and whether or not the brakes were used.

Officials will also look at the signals along that stretch of track to determine whether they were activated and whether they were working properly.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said, "I cannot offer any speculation. I can say we will cooperate in the investigation and we'll care for our passengers and crew."

Some worried family members had to wait hours to be reunited with their loved ones who were on that Amtrak train.

"I wanna hug her, hold her and make sure she's all right," said Mark Spann, who was waiting patiently for his wife Janice at union station. She was among the passengers heading from Grand Rapids to Chicago on the Amtrak train when it slammed into the back of the stopped freight train, the locomotive landing right on top of it.

"You could sense in her voice that she was shaken up by the sudden jolt when the engine hit the parked freight train," Spann said.

Those who were not hurt were bused back to union station. They spoke about the moment of impact.

Sara Fazio said, "It felt like forever but it was probably only five seconds. I hit the seat in front of me … I landed on my, actually face down on the aisle and somebody landed on my back and broke his head open, it was scary."

Passenger Maureen Stanage said, "you hear babies crying. You look around and there's people bleeding all over the place because there's smashed faces and noses, lips and shoulders."

While Stanage still hasn't been able to get in touch with some of the people she was traveling with, Spann got a call from his wife. She had already gotten on another train, and was heading home to Arlington Heights.

If you think someone you know might have been on the train, you can call Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL, or the American Red Cross at (312) 729-6200 to find out if and where your loved ones might be hospitalized.

CBS 2's Jay Levine, Jim Williams, Kris Habermehl, Derrick Blakley, Suzanne Le Mignot, the Associated Press and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages
 Slideshow: The Search For Stacy Peterson
 Slideshow: Extravagant Celebrity Gifts
 Slideshow: 90s TV Stars Then And Now
 Slideshow: What A Way To Go
 Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities
 Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)