CHICAGO — Two unrelated incidents made for a bumpy evening commute Thursday for riders on Metra’s BNSF line.
First, trains were stopped briefly after a truck struck a bridge near Western Avenue about 3:30 p.m. Trains were moving again by 4 p.m. with residual delays of 20 to 25 minute, WMAQ-TV reported.
Later, a locomotive caught fire at Union Station on BNSF train No. 1285, a 6:31 p.m. departure for Aurora, WBBM-TV reported. About 100 people were evacuated from the train; the Chicago Fire Department responded and extinguished the fire. Inbound and outbound traffic to the south side of the station was temporarily suspended, with a Metra tweet reporting at 7:40 p.m. that traffic had resumed.
Two trains — No. 1285 and the return trip using its equipment, No. 1294 — were cancelled, and another BNSF train was reported to be operating with a 35- to 45-minute delay.
