- Credibility:
THE LOOP — A CTA track power outage trapped a Brown Line over the Chicago River Downtown, forcing first responders to evacuate stuck riders while the outage shut down or delayed other “L” trains Tuesday.
The power outage occurred near Merchandise Mart around 4:40 p.m., according to a CTA alert. The electrified third rail failed, stranding a Brown Line train over the river, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
Officials cut power near Merchandise Mart as responding firefighters helped passengers climb down from the train and navigate a catwalk over the river toward the Merchandise Mart station, fire officials tweeted. Photos from the Tribune’s Chris Sweda showed firefighters and CTA workers lining catwalk next to the tracks to guide riders to safety.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were affected, but fire department officials said they believed several hundred people were on board.
There were no reported injuries or medical problems as of 10 p.m.
Purple Line Express trains were shut down between Howard and the Loop throughout the afternoon rush hour. Brown Line trains were stopped near Clark and Lake around 5 p.m., before service was suspended between Armitage and the Loop around 6:10 p.m.
Brown Line trains are only running between Kimball and Armitage, according to alerts.
Orange, Green and Pink Line trains also were delayed Tuesday because of the same issue, according to tweets.
There also was a lengthy delay on the Blue Line around 4 p.m. after an unauthorized person on the track near LaSalle Street, according to tweets. Trains were stopped between Damen and Racine before service resumed with delays around 4:48 p.m., according to tweets.
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