CHICAGO RIDGE, Ill. — Metra has canceled all operations on its SouthWest Service today (Feb. 11, 2026) following a freight derailment this morning near its Chicago Ridge station.
No injuries have been reported, and Chicago Ridge police say there is no danger to the public from the derailment.
A Metra spokeswoman told the Chicago Sun-Times that it was informed of the derailment about 4:45 a.m., and that a CSX train is involved. Video from WLS-TV shows overturned intermodal cars at a diamond where Indiana Harbor Belt tracks cross the Metra line, just to the northeast of the Chicago Ridge station.
Oak Lawn fire chief David Wheeler told WMAQ-TV that 10 to 12 railcars had derailed, and that while some of the materials were classified as hazardous, the contents were small packaged goods.
Police report that the derailment has closed Ridgeland Avenue between Southwest Highway and Washington Street, immediately adjacent to the station and diamond, and Central Avenue between 107th Street and Pleasant Boulevard, to the southeast. Oak Lawn police said in a statement to WBBM-TV that the Central Avenue closure is likely to continue for “a couple of days” because the derailment caused road damage.
In customer alerts this morning, Metra announced the cancellation of all SouthWest Service trains in and out of Chicago Union Statiom from the beginning of service to about 12:45 p.m. It announced ahead of the evening rush period that all service had been canceled. The status of Thursday service remains uncertain.
The SouthWest Service operates 15 weekday round trips between Union Station and Orland Park, with five of those continuing to Manhattan, Ill., a former Wabash line. Metra leases most of the route from Norfolk Southern.
— Updated at 5 p.m. CT with additional information. To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
CSX train I00909.
Fifteen r/ts is great but like North Central it’s weekdays only.
I can see METRA’s point of view, though. On METRA lines with 7/365 service, trains can be crowded on weekends and holidays. But the riders are paying at a weekend discount or maybe, I suspect, some not paying at all.
Wonder if the diamond had a defect? Is this crossing slated to be eliminated on the CHI create program?
Yes, both the Harbor Belt & Metra crossing and Central Ave are on their docket to be grade separated.
Alan – Looking at the linked video it appears the derailed portion of the train was on the ground before it got to the diamond. Way off to one side in fact – the derailed cars ripped rails off the Metra line. Hard to say what happened from what I could see in the video (that unfortunately has been replaced), but the cars were off the ground when they arrived at the diamond. It looks like after traveling over the diamond the lead derailed car hooked the back side of the derail protecting the diamond, kinking the track and probably breaking the trainline since there isn’t too much damage beyond that point.
There is evidence that the train had been dragging a derailed wheel for a while before scattering at the site.