CTA snarled by death, rail problem

Police say death on Brown Line tracks appears to be suicide

A woman was struck and killed Thursday morning by a CTA Brown Line train near the Wellington stop in one of three unrelated incidents that caused severe service disruptions on the city's North Side.

The death, reported to police at 11:07 a.m., appeared to be a suicide, a Chicago Police spokeswoman said.

The woman's identity was not released Thursday, pending notification of her family.

Brown and Red Line trains in both directions were stopped for nearly two hours between Wrigleyville and downtown. Shuttles were provided for stranded riders.

In a separate incident, southbound Brown Line service was stopped until about 10:15 a.m. while crews repaired a piece of missing rail just south of the Armitage station. The 6-inch gap in the outer track was spotted by a rail operator at 8:10 a.m.

CTA spokeswoman Sheila Gregory said four trains passed over the gap without incident before track repairs were made.

Earlier in the day, a power outage caused signal problems near Barry Avenue around 6:45 a.m., forcing Brown, Red and Purple Line trains to move at a slower speed through the affected area.

mjthomas@suntimes.com