Power restored to Brown Line, 2 reported hospitalized

Power has been restored to the CTA Brown Line tracks following an incident in the River North neighborhood Wednesday afternoon in which at least one CTA employee was hospitalized.

Initial reports were that an employee was injured, CTA spokeswoman Katelyn Thrall said. Details of the incident were not immediately available. According to unconfirmed dispatch reports, two CTA employees were taken from the scene to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Power was shut off to to the tracks in both directions between Fullerton and the Loop, and the CTA set up a shuttle bus service to serve all Brown Line stations, Thrall said. Purple Line trains, which use the Brown Line tracks between Belmont and the Loop, were also affected. As of about 2:30 p.m., power had been restored and trains were moving again, Thrall said. The bus shuttle service would remain until 3 p.m.

Brown Line trains which were in the Loop at the time of the power outage were continuing to run around the Loop only, she said.

According to unconfirmed dispatch reports a CTA employee may have been struck by a live wire and the tracks were briefly on fire.