Arlington Heights firefighters prevent gasoline ignition and stabilize and prepare a Chevy Suburban for towing after it crashed onto the Metra tracks at the Arlington Heights downtown station.
A report of a car crashed through a fence onto the Metra train platform at the downtown Arlington Heights station at 45 West Northwest Highway turned out to be a Chevy Suburban that crashed onto the southernmost track of the Metra Chicago Northwest Line. The Chevy Suburban jumped the curb of a downtown parking lot, knocked over a light pole, crashed through a wrought iron fence, and breached the southernmost Union Pacific trackbed at the downtown Arlington Heights Metra Station a little before noon on Thursday.
At least one person was injured and was transported to Northwest Community Hospital. The Chevy Suburban ruptured a gas tank and gasoline was leaking in the area. Arlington Heights firefighters stabilized the Suburban for towing by Hillside and sprayed water and foam before and during the towing of the truck off of the railroad trackbed. A thorough washdown of the area followed the towing of the truck.
Palatine Police Department and Mount Prospect Police Department assisted with this call as railroad agencies requested the police block any trains about two miles from the Arlington Heights station on either side of the downtown Arlington Heights Metra Station.