Freight train derails, hits 2nd train in Northbrook

Nov 01, 2009 (Chicago Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- UNP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A freight train derailed and hit a second train about 3:05 p.m. this afternoon in north suburban Northbrook near Glenview, closing a major road perhaps for days and imperiling two large liquid propane tanks, but injuring no one, authorities said.

A train headed southwest on the track derailed, hitting a standing train that was moving northeast, Northbrook Deputy Fire Chief Jim Richards said, correcting earlier information that a northbound train might have hit a stationery south-facing train. Both trains were general freight trains carrying grain and clay, operated by Canadian Pacific Railway and travelling at a junction between Canadian Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad tracks, authorities said.

The rail lines run on a viaduct over Shermer Road just south of Willow Road.

There were no injuries and no hazardous materials spilled in the accident, said Canadian Pacific spokesman Michael LoVecchio. A cause of the derailment was not known, and it was not know when the tracks and road will be clear, he said.

Shermer Road was closed between Willow and West Lake Avenue because of the accident, and expected to be closed for several days, Richards said. Officials on the scene said the derailment took place in Northbrook.

A derailed car that still may shift position was posing a threat to two large liquid propane tanks behind the strip mall, and fire and railroad officials were trying to minimize the damage from anything that might happen with the rail car, Richards said. The propane tanks are being drained as a precaution, LoVecchio said.

"It's purely a precaution," LoVecchio said.

A nearby strip mall was evacuated as a precautionary measure, and hazardous materials crew was called out, because of the danger to the propane tanks. It was unclear when the rail car might be moved, Richards said.

In all, 18 cars were derailed--14 from about two-thirds from the front of the southbound train, and the four last cars from from the northbound train, said LoVecchio, who is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Among the derailed cars were two that fell under a viaduct at Shermer Road that the train was going over when the derailment happened, Richards said. Four other cars had rolled over on railroad property, completely coming off the tracks.

"It looks like Tinkertoys. They're all jumbled up like a big puzzle," Richards said. "They're all over the place. It's not going to be an easy fix" moving the cars back on track or out of the way of the rail lines and the road.

Some of the grain from cars on the southbound train spilled onto Shermer Road. Of the four northbound cars derailed, one carried clay and the other three were empty grain cars, LoVecchio said.

A railcar operated by Hulcher Services is being moved into place the remove the derailed cars, LoVecchio said. It was unknown when the car, with a large grapple on it, will be moved into place, Richards said.

From Princeton Village, a gated community just west of the tracks, cars could be seen piled up on one another and having fallen down an embankment behind the strip mall on Shermer.

Train cars crushed a wooden stairway and a shed near the rail lines that housed rail equipment, and cars and debris came within feet of two permanently mounted liquid propane tanks behind the strip mall, at the base of an embankment.

Northbrook Village President Sandra Frum said three people were on board the freight train that derailed first and none suffered major injuries.

"It appears there will be no impact on the commuter rails," Frum said.

There are homes on the west side of Shermer in that area, but east of Shermer and to the south of the intersection of the tracks and Shermer, there is a mix of industry and the strip mall.

A woman who drove under the underpass moments before the crash said she believes she barely avoided getting hurt in the crash.

Ellen Hofman, 70, who lives in a Glenview subdivision that borders the tracks.

She was driving north on Shermer, and when she got about 200 feet past the underpass, she heard a loud crashing sound, and suddenly saw smoke rising up.

"It was very frightening," Hofman said.

Neighbors have thougght for a long time that the overpass is bad shape, Hofman said. Hofman said she believes the crash will lead to a renovation or replacement of the railroad viaduct.

Although ComEd crews were called to the scene, they determined that no ComEd lines were affected and no customers of the electrical utility had their power cut off because of the accident, company spokeswoman Marie Turrell said.

The area was the site of a previous large-scale derailment 35 years ago, on Oct. 19, 1974, when the Shermer Road viaduct collapsed in a 22-car pileup of a Chicago & North Western Transporation Co. freight train. The viaduct was rebuilt following that incident.

-- Robert Channick, Liam Ford, Andrew Wang and Kristen Schorsch

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