Chicago Firefighters Help ‘Hundreds' of Passengers Off Stranded Brown Line Train in River North

A power failure on the CTA’s Brown Line left hundreds of passengers stranded onboard a train over the Chicago River on Tuesday afternoon, with firefighters helping individuals to safety.

According to the fire department, power was cut on multiple CTA lines near the Merchandise Mart on Tuesday afternoon so that firefighters could help passengers off the train, which became stranded near Wells and Wacker.

Firefighters were able to help passengers along a catwalk near Wells back to the Merchandise Mart station, where they were able to exit the station.

No medical issues were reported among the passengers.

The train became stuck after a loss of track power occurred near the Merchandise Mart, causing serious travel issues during the evening commute.

Brown Line train service was stopped between Armitage and the Loop because of the outage, while the Purple Line Express train from the Loop to Howard was also stopped.

Crews remain on the scene Tuesday evening, with dozens of passengers still being evacuated from the train.

The CTA does not have a time estimate on when service will resume.

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