The latest incident occurred at Track 5 about 5 p.m. Tuesday. Two people were taken by Chicago Fire Department personnel to a hospital for treatment, but were “ambulatory” and not seriously injured. They were later released, according to Amtrak represntative Marc Magliari. However, a television station reported that a 39-year-old man was hospitalized and reported in stable condition Tuesday night at Rush University Medical Center.
Magliari says the debris fell from the underside of buildings that were built above the tracks and platforms. Amtrak owns Union Station and the tracks, but not the buildings built on air rights on south Riverside Drive.
“We are going to hold the building owner accountable for maintaining the underside of the structure and for the safety of Amtrak and Metra customers,” Magliari tells Trains News Wire. “We will be aggressive on these fronts.”
He added that Amtrak would take legal action if necessary.
Several commuters posted photos of the debris on Twitter.
One woman said she was standing on the platform when something hit her shoulder. Then, debris tumbled all around her.
“Honestly, I thought it was a bomb,” the woman told the Chicago Tribune.
The tracks on the north concourse are used by Metra’s Milwaukee District West and North lines and the North Central Service. Some 55,000 Metra customers use the tracks daily. At least one North Central train was delayed Tuesday evening, but service was reported normal Wednesday morning.
A Metra spokesman did not immediately respond for comment Wednesday.
The last serious case of falling debris and injury occurred Sept. 13, 2016, when a woman on a north concourse platform was reportedly hit by falling concrete. Her injury was not described as life-threatening.
After that incident, Metra’s then-Chairman Martin Oberman said Metra was “deeply concerned about the condition of Chicago Union Station,” and ordered Metra staff to investigate how the incident occurred and to ensure it didn’t happen again.
An Amtrak statement issued at the time blamed “third-party property owners” and warned that that if they fail to inspect and maintain the property over the tracks, “Amtrak will take appropriate steps to ensure public safety, including taking legal action.”
Passengers using both the north and south concourses have complained for years about water leaking on the platforms.
In January 2015, frozen water pipes burst and flooded the south concourse area.
CURTIS – How did the 1960’s air rights at New York Penn Station work out for the passengers? Covnert one of America’s best (and its busiest) train station into a hole in the ground.
Then there was the destruction of Washington Union Station, in the 1970’s, by our airhead federal government. That one was reversible – at a cost.
The CUS north platforms are old Milw. Rd. from the initial construction. Mistake #1 was to demolish the original and airy concourse that served all platforms north and south in order to sell air-rights. The resultant dingy dungeons created maintenance problems from the beginning, which Amtrak, lousy landlord that it is, never solved.
I’ll have to side with the ambulance-chasing tort lawyers on this one. Amtrak invites its customers (example: me) and Metra’s customers into that space. If it’s not safe, Amtrak has a percentage responsibility – along with the air rights owners – for not keeping an eye on conditions.
I have a bad feeling that nothing will happen until someone is killed. Maybe even nothing then because the propeety owners and Amtrak will spend the next five years blaming each other rather than just sucking it up and splitting the cost of abtuckpointing crew.
Can’t recall the last time a gleefully taxpayer supported airport could claim the same.
I’ve looked up when arriving at the station by rail and what I see looks like it should be condemned .
Wonderful infrastructure in the USA!
I wonder if this happens in Beijing or Shanghai?
While I can’t comment on the structural condition of the north-side platforms I can say this has got to be the ugliest place I’ve ever been.