Passengers on a Chicago Transit Authority Brown Line train, which collided with another train during rush hour Tuesday morning, described being thrown to the floor in the incident.
"Suddenly there was a huge jolt, everyone was propelled forward, people fell to the ground, coffee was spilled," said Tyler Davis, who was in the second car on the Loop-bound Brown Line train at the time the train apparently made contact with a Purple Line Express train.
The incident, which took place just after 9 a.m. in the 1500 block of North Sedgwick Street in the city's Old Town neighborhood, halted Brown and Purple Lines during the morning rush hour. No injuries were immediately reported but authorities said one pregnant passengers and a diabetic passenger were taken to area hospitals for further examination.
"According to preliminary reports, a southbound Brown Line train collided with a southbound Purple Line train north of the Sedgwick station," the Chicago Transit Authority said in a statement just before 10 a.m.
At a news conference, fire officials and a CTA spokesman said there was no collision or derailment during the incident, which remained under investigation. The CTA later clarified that the trains did in fact collide.
It wasn't clear how many passengers were on board the trains at the time of the collision, authorities said. Video of the scene showed the Chicago Fire Department using ladders on top of firetrucks to reach the elevated train tracks, with CTA personnel also walking alongside the halted trains.
Witnesses reported people fell out of their seats at the time of the potential impact.
"Without any warning just a very sudden impact, the whole train shakes, anyone who’s standing is falling forward, anyone who’s sitting is like banging their heads basically and then just mass confusion afterwards," Davis said.
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"We were on a train and we hit something in front of us and it shook us to our core," he added.
The trains began to move again at around 10:07 a.m., with Chicago Fire Department's Chief of Special Operations Tim Walsh saying the trains would stop at the Sedgwick station where additional emergency personnel would evaluate any passengers complaining of injuries.
The CTA said just after 10:30 a.m. that normal service had resumed on both lines. The cause of the incident remained under investigation, officials said.
