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Two Metra commuter trains collided at low speed in Aurora, Ill., earlier this week, injuring 23 people and snarling evening rush hour service. Only one person was seriously injured, officials said, and the morning rush hour went smoothly today.

The head-on collision of the commuter trains, which are operated and dispatched by Burlington Northern Santa Fe, was the fourth on BNSF tracks since April 23. The incidents have prompted the Federal Railroad Administration to increase its scrutiny of BNSF operations, the agency told Trains.com.

Metra train 1270 had just departed the Aurora station at 3:20 p.m. yesterday when it collided head-on with train 1235 from Chicago, which was about to enter the station, Metra spokesman Frank Malone said. Three BNSF crew members were among the 23 people injured on the seven-car trains, he said.

The impact derailed the cab car on train 1270 as well as the F40PHM-2 and the first three cars on train 1235, Malone said.

The wreck delayed 26 Metra trains by as much as 50 minutes last night, Malone said. Four trains were annulled. For a time last night, commuters were bused from the Route 59 station the 10 miles to Aurora, Malone said.

About 1000 commuters use the Aurora station daily, he said. It is the last station on Metra’s BNSF Line.

With the exception of a 6:27 a.m. departure from Aurora, which instead originated at Route 59, this morning’s rush hour operated normally, Malone said.

The National Transportation Safety Board, FRA, and BNSF are investigating the collision, with Metra assisting as needed, Malone said.

Nothing has been ruled in or out yet as to the cause of the collision, BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg said.

But the collision has triggered increased monitoring by the FRA. The FRA first expressed concern to BNSF management several weeks ago, and the agency and railroad are continuing to discuss safety issues.

“As a result of the recent incidents, the Federal Railroad Administration is monitoring BNSF’s operations through focused inspections,” said FRA spokesman Warren Flatau. “Special attention is being paid to the efficiency testing of crews and the railroad’s efforts to reinforce adherence to sound operating principles.”

FRA inspectors are likely to conduct efficiency tests alongside BNSF personnel.

BNSF says it shares the FRA’s concern.

“Any head-on collision is a cause for concern,” Forsberg said. “We are talking to all of our people, from the train crews on the front line on up, to be especially careful about adhering to the operating rules.”

“We’re obviously concerned,” he added, “and are looking forward to learning from what the determinations of cause are for each of these incidents.”

Until probes of recent collisions are complete, Forsberg said that BNSF won’t know whether it is dealing with a systemic problem or four incidents with four different causes.

The collision is the fourth such incident on BNSF since April 23, when a BNSF stack train collided with a Metrolink commuter train near Los Angeles, killing two commuters and injuring about 200.

On May 11, a coal train and an empty hopper train collided in Wright, Wyo., injuring four crew members.

On May 28, an engineer was killed and three other crewmen injured when a coal train and an intermodal train collided head-on in dark territory in Clarendon, Texas.