Feb. 09--The derailment of a Metra passenger train early Monday delayed the morning commute for thousands of passengers, but service returned to normal for the evening commute, an agency spokesman said.
Tom Miller, Metra spokesman, said "it was a smooth and normal commute" for most riders on the BNSF Metra line on Monday evening. Miller doesn't expect the incident to impact BNSF service on Tuesday morning.
One car of a passenger train that at the time carried no passengers derailed east of Naperville about 5 a.m. No one was injured.
The derailment caused delays throughout the morning of up to 41 minutes on Metra's busiest commuter line, which operates between Aurora and Chicago's Union Station. One train was canceled.
Miller said BNSF workers were still at the site in mid-afternoon making minor track repairs. The cause of the derailment was still unknown. A crane had been brought in to put the derailed car back on the track.
Miller said that the train scheduled to leave the Fairview Avenue station in Downers Grove at 7:13 a.m. was canceled. Passengers at the stop waited about 15 minutes before boarding another train. A total of 29 trains after the incident were delayed from about 10 to 41 minutes, he said.
Joseph Ruzich is a freelance reporter.
