CHICAGO RIDGE, Ill. — Metra has halted operations on its SouthWest Service today (Feb. 11, 2026) following a freight derailment 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.
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.
In customer alerts on social media, Metra says it has cancelled inbound trains 800, 802, 804, 806, 808, 810, 812, and 816, along with outbound trains 801, 803, 805, 807, and 809. This covers all trains arriving and departing from Chicago Union Station from the beginning of the day’s schedule through 12:42 p.m.
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.
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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.