Commuter train hits snow-removal equipment in Chicago, injuring at least 23

The Chicago Transit Authority Yellow Line train collided with the equipment, with one passenger saying it made 'a horrible boom sound'

A commuter train crashed into snow-removal equipment in Chicago on Thursday, injuring at least 23 people, three of them critically.

The Chicago Transit Authority Yellow Line train collided with the equipment near the Howard Station on the north side of the city, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Of the 38 people on board the train, 23 were taken to local hospitals and 15 refused treatment. Three of those hospitalized were in critical condition.

“I just heard like a horrible boom sound,” passenger Shayla Smith told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It felt like we’re gonna tip over and I was wondering what’s going on? My body shivered.”

Smith, who had been on her way to work, said she had just boarded a Purple Line train when she heard the collision at the Howard station. Passengers on her train began screaming, and she saw an elderly woman nearly fall out of her seat, she told the newspaper.

National Highway Safety Board, governor's office involved

The train was heading southbound from Skokie and was traveling at "normal speed," Robert Jurewicz, Chicago fire's second district chief, said at a news conference.

Yellow line operations have been suspended.

The National Highway Safety Board announced that it would be sending investigators to the incident.

"Terrible news out of Chicago this afternoon," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker posted on X, adding that his office would be monitoring the situation.