A car being driven by an 87-year-old Westchester man Friday evening was struck by a Metra commuter train on the BNSF rail line at La Grange Rd after the driver apparently ignored the safety gates and drove onto the tracks, according to La Grange Police and a Metra spokeswoman.
The man, identified in a police press release as Edward Strane, was injured in the crash and was admitted to the Loyola Medical Center
in Maywood, where he was transported by paramedics from the La Grange
Fire Department. Hospital officials would not discuss Strane's
condition.
Police said Strane was driving eastbound on Burlington Ave at approximately 6:30 p.m. Friday and proceeded to make a left-hand turn northbound onto La Grange Rd where it immediately crosses the rail line.
Witnesses told police that the railroad crossing gates were lowered with red lights flashing and bells ringing. Strane apparently avoided the gates by driving north in the southbound lanes of La Grange Rd, which are not impeded by gates on the south side of the tracks.
Strane's car was crossing the railroad tracks when it was struck by the westbound train, which was carrying commuters from Chicago and slowing down to make a scheduled stop at the La Grange Rd Station, according to police.
The train's conductor was able to apply the emergency brakes before impact, the Metra spokeswoman said.
No one aboard the train was injured, nor was the train itself disabled by the accident, she said. However, the train was delayed for nearly two hours as emergency personnel attended to the motorist and wreckage was cleared from the tracks.
A total of ten Metra trains were delayed by the accident, the spokeswoman said.
The crash was the second incident in less than a week at that railroad crossing. Four days earlier, a truck travelling southbound on La Grange Rd collided with a crossing gate, causing delays.