Trains collide in Chicago, injuring 9 people

[June 04, 2011]  CHICAGO (AP) -- An Amtrak train bound for southern Illinois has collided with a Metra commuter train arriving at Chicago's Union Station, injuring nine people and severely damaging one Metra car.

Metra's chief executive officer Alex Clifford said 1,500 passengers were aboard the train when the accident occurred Friday morning at a point where two tracks converge. Both Metra and Amtrak said they did not know exactly what happened and the collision was under investigation.

Railroad officials said eight passengers and an Amtrak engineer were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Metra passenger Teleshia McClendon said she was in the third car when she felt a big bump and then a series of bumps before her car tipped to its side. She said passengers thought it was a terrorist attack.

[Associated Press; By DON BABWIN]

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