The Associated Press contributed to this report.
2 killed in Metra accident
CHICAGO Investigators are trying to figure out why the victims were on the track. It happened on the West Side in the 1400-block of North Monticello.
Horns sounded but witnesses say two people up on the tracks did not move as the train passed through at 40-50 miles an hour.
"When the Metra beeps normally like that, there is somebody on the tracks. I looed out my window and I saw her body rolling down from the hill," said Rosalinda Sanabria, witness.
Struck and killed immediately, investigators say, were a woman and a man, both middle aged. Train service was halted for much of the evening rush hour.
There used to be protective fencing up and down this section of the tracks but it was removed several years ago and since then people have been hanging out near the tracks, resulting in several deaths.
Jose Sanabria, who lives across the street, says there is constant drug and prostitution activity going on near the tracks.
"They will park their cars in front of my home and do drugs and bring their johns and things here," he said.
Officer John Mirabelli says the accident happened at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. He says both victims were dead at the scene. No one was injured on the train.
Metra spokeswoman Meg Reile says the accident involved a commuter train on the Milwaukee District North line headed to north suburban Deerfield.
She says the accident happened between two train stations on a portion of tracks that's elevated and not level with the roadway.
