Chicago Airport passenger train jumped off track up the escalator to the terminal

The Blue Line train service connecting the O’Hare airport to Chicago city is expected to be disrupted for the rest of the day — if not longer — after a CTA train jumped the platform this morning and climbed up an escalator at the end of the track.

A train jumpe off track and forced it way up to the escalator leading to the terminal. As investigators tried to determine the cause of the crash. Transit officials declined to discuss how or when they would dismantle the wreckage.

“We still don’t know,” CTA spokesman Brian Steele said. “Earlier (an engineer) said 12 to 24 hours before service restoration. It very possibly could be longer than that.”

Trains continue to run between Forest Park and Rosemont, where passengers can catch a shuttle to the airport. The large, articulated buses are operating on a load-and-go basis instead of a schedule, adding 5 to 10 minutes to the typical airport trip, officials said.

More than 30 people were hurt in the crash, though none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

The eight-car train remains wedged near the top of an escalator used by commuters at the airport’s Blue Line terminal. Steele said workers may have to cut up the car and remove it piece by piece, which could take 12 to 24 hours. Then the damage will have to be assessed and repairs made before trains use the station, he said.

Initial inspections indicate that the train’s front two cars were damaged as well as the escalator, officials said. The stairs and the structure beneath them appear to be in good shape.

“Once we remove the train, we’ll have a much clearer picture of what the issues are there,” said Chris Bushell, chief infrastructure officer for the CTA. “At this moment, it looks like we have significant damage to one escalator.”

The accident happened around 2:50 a.m., one of the station’s lightest traffic times. More than 50 firefighters and paramedics responded to the scene, with rescue workers first scrambling to determine if anyone was trapped underneath the cars, Chicago Fire Commissioner Joe Santiago said.

All of the injured, however, were aboard the train and were taken in fair or good condition to four hospitals, officials said.