Chicago 'L' Collision Sends Dozens to Hospital

An out-of-service Chicago "L" train plowed into a parked, outbound one today at a Blue Line stop in Forest Park, sending at least 33 people to nine different area hospitals (the local mayor's office puts that number at 48 people in 10 hospitals). The train was moving the wrong way along the track, the Chicago Tribune reports. No passengers were aboard the moving train at the time, and police are investigating the possibility that it may have been stolen, according to CBS 2. None of the injuries is considered serious.

One locomotive engineer who saw the collision at the Harlem stop described it to NBC 5 this way: "There was a train that was stopped at the station. Another train came through and looked like it blew the signal, because I heard beeping. I know the systems, I know the sounds. When you hear those beepings it's warning you that there is an obstruction in front of you and you need to stop." (More Chicago Transit Authority stories.)