Hi guys,
A friend rented an apartment in downtown Chicago for a month doing some soul searching and taking a vacation. She invited me up. Said it'd be relatively cheap since I could stay with her for free.
I managed some days off from work, but was too late to get a good airfare, so I decided to take the train. I left Wednesday afternoon, the train to arrive in Chicago on Thursday around 1:45 pm.
You guys know how terrified I am about possibly being in a plane crash...never occurred to me that deaths could result in a train crash I was in as well:
2 Killed in Amtrak Train Accident
June 19, 2009
A husband and his wife are dead after an Amtrak train bound for Chicago struck their car in southwest suburban Romeoville.
The Amtrak Texas Eagle train just stopped in Joliet and was bound for downtown Chicago when it slammed into the car crossing the tracks at about 1:10 p.m. Thursday.
Harry Hoffman, 76 , and Doreen Hoffman, 64, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses say that the car tried to cross the tracks but the grade crossing arm came down onto the windshield of the victims’ car. The couple tried to put the car in reverse but it was too late.
Passengers remained on the train after the crash. The train was allowed to continue on its route at 3:55 p.m.http://www.legalinfo360.com/2009/06/2-killed-in-amtrak-train-accident/ This is the train I was on. We were 30 miles outside of Chicago. I barely saw the car out of the corner of my eye as we were passing, but the girl sitting in front of me did. She saw bodies flying and started freaking out. I was sitting on the side of the train that it happened and the train is such a powerful thing that it bashing a car and sending it flying and killing people didn't even send a ripple across my soda.
We stopped on the track as the story says for about 2 hours, but what the story doesn't say is that we were allowed to continue but came to a stop 30 feet down the track because debris was under the train. A mechanic had to come out from Chicago to inspect the engine and make sure it was OK to continue. We sat on the tracks another 2 hours and finally got going at 6:15 pm and crept into Chicago about 7 pm.
Not the most auspicious start to my trip.
When i disembarked, I saw my fellow passengers taking pictures of the front of the train where the wreck happened. I don't know parts of trains, but what looks like a front bumper was bent down. I didn't take a picture because - frighteningly - the train didn't look much affected by the wreck at all.