Two Amtrak employees hospitalized after train fire in South Loop
Sun-Times Media Wire June 27, 2012 4:48PM
An Amtrak car fire left two people hospitalized Wednesday afternoon in the South Loop. / photo from Fire Media Affairs
Updated: June 27, 2012 6:37PM
Two Amtrak employees were taken to a hospital Wednesday afternoon when a smoky fire started on the engine of a locomotive in a South Loop rail yard.
Amtrak locomotive No. 71 caught fire in the Amtrak yard near West Roosevelt Road and South Canal Street, and employees called the Fire Department, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
Firefighters responded at 4:10 p.m. and found a smoky fire that started while the locomotive was being serviced, according to Fire Media Affairs. The locomotive was not pulling any cars and the fire was extinguished in about 30 minutes.
Magliari said two Amtrak employees were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital to be “checked out.” Fire Media said they were transported because of the heavy smoke.
Amtrak shares the rail yard with BNSF, which operates under Metra, Magliari said. The fire will not affect Amtrak service, and because of the direction the smoke blew, Metra service is not expected to be affected either.
