Gates Up When Western Springs Train Crash Happened: Cops

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL — Video shows that the railroad gates were up when a car collided with a train in November in Western Springs, according to a police report.

About 1:30 p.m. Nov. 15, a southbound SUV struck a locomotive at the Wolf Road railroad crossing in Western Springs, according to the report, which was obtained through a public records request. The man and woman in the car appeared uninjured, but went to the hospital in La Grange for an evaluation, police said. They told police they were fine afterward.

Both the 37-year-old woman, who was driving, and the 38-year-old man said the same thing: The north gates lowered briefly, then rose back up before they proceeded to approach the train tracks. The gates were completely up and not flashing. Another car in front of the man and woman crossed the tracks first.

The man told police that foliage on the northeastern side of the road obscured their vision of the westbound train approaching the intersection, according to the report. The woman saw the train at the last second and attempted to stop before striking it, police said.

Two witnesses backed up the man's and woman's account, the report said.

Representatives of BNSF and Metra showed up to repair the railroad gates, police said.

According to the report, a police officer later contacted a representative of BNSF, which owns the railroad, and was told that the person was contractually bound and could not provide information to the police on the ongoing investigation. The representative said the police could email a request for information and that it would be sent to railroad superiors, police said.

The conductor told police his train was going 70 mph at the time of the crash — a speed that the conductor said was permissible.

An officer and a BNSF representative watched a video of the crash and saw that the gates were up and not activated.

A BNSF spokesman said the railroad could not comment on the crash because it was the subject of pending litigation.

In a Jan. 8 email to the village, BNSF said it was planning to cut vegetation along its tracks from Chicago to Aurora to eliminate a number of safety issues. All vegetation within 20 feet of the centerline of the track and greater than 3 feet would be removed, the company said.

"The vegetation blocks our signal system, signage and impacts trains from time to time," BNSF's Nate Freeman said in the email.

At last week's Village Board meeting, trustees were told that vegetation may have interfered with switch gear, causing the gate problem. This type of issue may have led to four other crashes in towns along the railroad, officials said.