Chicago subway derails; causes fire, evacuation

CHICAGO -- Wary Chicago commuters headed back into the downtown subway stations Wednesday morning, a day after an eight-car train derailed and sparked a tunnel fire that injured more than 150 people in one of the city's few underground stretches of subway line.\nThe damaged, soot-covered train was hauled back to a railyard after the rush hour derailment Tuesday evening, and the downtown Blue Line stations reopened Wednesday, but with delays.\nLaw enforcement officials said there was no indication of foul play or terrorism.\n"It took me three hours to get home yesterday, so hopefully (it will be) a little bit better getting to work than coming home," commuter Alicia Hutchinson said as she entered a downtown Blue Line station Wednesday morning. "Luckily, everybody got out OK."\nTwo injured passengers remained hospitalized in critical condition Wednesday as federal investigators tried to determine what had caused the rear wheels of the eight-car train to jump the track.\nAs many as 1,000 people were aboard when the train heading to O'Hare Airport derailed shortly after 5 p.m. and material under the train caught fire, said Chicago Transit Authority President Frank Kruesi.\n"It felt like it jumped the line, and a fire started in the car behind me," said Joel Johnson, 24, of Chicago, whose face and white shirt were covered in soot when he emerged Tuesday with hundreds of other riders who had made their way along a wall through the darkened, smoke-filled tunnel to an emergency exit leading to the street.\n"I saw the orange flames but I didn't hear it," Johnson said. "I could barely breathe."\nThe shutdown of the downtown stretch of the Blue Line -- which takes travelers from one of the nation's busiest airports to the business district, its Amtrak stations and then Chicago's west side -- left commuters to patch together new routes Tuesday evening using buses, taxis or multiple train lines.\nCTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney urged commuters to be patient and expect delays.\n"We're hoping to catch up quickly," Gaffney said early Wednesday. "People should still allow a little extra travel time but they don't have to worry about exiting at a different stop than they're used to because we will be bringing trains to the subway."\nChicago Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said 152 passengers were taken to 12 hospitals, primarily to be treated for smoke inhalation, and 33 others refused treatment. Many were considered to be in good or fair condition, officials said, but at least one hospital reported two patients in critical condition.\nOfficials said it was too early to say what caused the derailment. Kruesi said the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating.\nThe train had just left the busy station at Clark and Lake, at the northwest corner of the Loop, when the operator realized there was a problem, stopped the train and called for power to be cut, Kruesi said.\nHe said the operator then led passengers out through the smoky subway tunnel to the nearest emergency exit, where they climbed out through a grate in the sidewalk above.\nKruesi praised the operator, who he said had been on the job for 19 months. "This thing happened the way it's supposed to happen," he said of the evacuation.\nRita Bacon, 25, who was on the train, said she felt much safer after commuters were able to open the train cars' doors using the emergency release.\n"Everyone was just holding out their hands, holding each other's hands, feeling their way along," she said. "It was pitch black in places, but there were signs in the tunnel that said, '500 feet to the exit, 250 feet to the exit,' so I felt much better"