Chicago

Blue Line Service Resumes Following Canopy Collapse

Riders told NBC 5 the conductor stopped the train as soon as the canopy started coming down, which is when they saw it hit by lightning

Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train service resumed Monday morning after crews worked through the night to repair the damage from a steel canopy that came crashing down during Sunday’s storms.

Shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, trains were halted after a massive canopy along a pedestrian ramp collapsed at the Illinois Medical District station located at 430 S. Damen Ave on Chicago's Near West Side.

The aluminum canopy fell on the tracks just a train was pulling into the station in a downpour that was captured on video by a driver on the Eisenhower Expressway:

Preliminary reports indicated the cause of the damage was a lightning strike, according to the Chicago Fire Department, but the investigation is ongoing.

Riders told NBC 5 the conductor stopped the train as soon as the canopy started coming down, which is when they saw it hit by lightning.

"The train stopped to let the people off and that's when we saw the sparks come flying," said Cynthia Rambert, who was a passenger at the time.

No injuries were reported, but a nearby train was evacuated.

A spokesperson for the CTA said that the concrete flooring of the ramp was still in place, but the pedestrian walkway canopy and railing that gets riders safely from Paulina down to the tracks is still missing, and will need to be replaced.

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