{"id":85346,"date":"2026-02-11T18:49:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/891514651"},"modified":"2026-02-11T18:49:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:49:45","slug":"impacts-of-suburban-freight-train-derailment-expected-to-linger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/impacts-of-suburban-freight-train-derailment-expected-to-linger\/","title":{"rendered":"Impacts of suburban freight train derailment expected to linger"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A freight train derailment in the southwest suburbs shut down roads, disrupted Metra trains, and even impacted local businesses. <\/p>\n

The derailment occurred early Wednesday morning in suburban Chicago Ridge<\/a>, and it caused the closure of several businesses and snarled commutes on Metra’s Southwest Service line. <\/p>\n

The doors were closed on Wednesday at the Ridge Bar and Grill at the corner of 102nd and Ridgeland Avenue as emergency crews work to clean up, repair, and restore Metra service after a train derailment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve told us that the street is closed to all, but emergency traffic right now,\u201d said Anthony Wojciechowski, his family owns Ridge Bar and Grill. \u201cThere is no business, the impact is huge, there\u2019s just nothing going on at all\u2014sent our cooks home, doors are closed, not a dime.\u201d<\/p>\n

A CSX freight train was heading westbound to Bedford Park Yard when it derailed. A CSX spokesperson said it happened near 87th and South-Central, blocking several crossroads spanning Ridgeland, Central, 115th and Kostner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not hear anything, but when I came out first thing at about 10 til 5 a.m. this morning both gates were down and the police were here,\u201d said Sharon Katz, a Chicago Ridge resident.<\/p>\n

The Oak Lawn Fire Chief said between 10 and 12 train cars derailed carrying cargo containers just before 4:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral of cars on the train did have what was classified as hazardous materials, (but it was) nothing seriously hazardous. It was all minor small, packaged goods,” said Oak Lawn fire chief David Wheeler. <\/p>\n

Mitigation crews were seen moving big machines and heavy equipment to get the train cars upright. Police directed and rerouted traffic for most of the day on Ridgeland and Central Avenues.<\/p>\n

\u201c107th and Central Avenue which is located in Oak Lawn will be down for a couple of days,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s some road damage there as the train did come off the tracks here and start pulling roadway up, they\u2019re getting that corrected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metra trains in and out of Chicago Ridge were also impacted. Metra suspended its Southwest Service Line at the start of the morning commute. It\u2019s unclear if services will be suspended Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping that we don\u2019t have to suspend service tomorrow\u2014right now we are literally going hour by hour,\u201d said Martha Hill, Metra spokesperson. \u201cWe have an amazing team out there, everybody wants to get trains on the move.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials hope to have Ridgeland Avenue at the crossing reopen by the end of the day. The cause of the derailment is still under investigation. No one was hurt.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A freight<\/span> train derailment in the southwest … , not a dime.\u00e2\u0080\u009d A CSX freight<\/span> train was heading westbound to … 12 train cars derailed carrying cargo<\/span> containers just before 4:30 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}