(The following article by Jeremy Gorner was posted on the Chicago Tribune website on June 16.)
CHICAGO — A Metra train line was shut down Thursday for about four hours after several bags of a white acidic powder fell from a freight train along tracks in the western suburbs, stranding thousands of commuters.
Trains along the Burlington Northern Santa Fe line were halted in both directions at 4:30 p.m. after six to 10 40-pound bags of the substance were discovered along the tracks near the Main Street and Belmont Road Stations in Downers Grove, authorities said.
“Trains could not traverse through the suburbs at this time because there was the chance that they would stir up and carry the substance,” according to a statement from the Downers Grove Fire Department.
The powder was stearic acid, which is commonly used in soap, Downers Grove Fire Department spokeswoman Marsha Giesler said.
The acid can irritate the skin, eyes and respiratory system.
BNSF workers were picking up the bags containing the substance Thursday night, railway spokesman Steve Forsberg said.
Train service resumed in both directions about 8:30 p.m. when an outbound train departed Chicago’s Union Station en route to Aurora, Metra spokesman Tom Miller said.
The cleanup “was sufficient enough to allow trains to go by,” Miller said.
Normal schedules would resume during Friday’s morning rush hour, he said.
The train from which the bags fell originated in Tacoma, Wash., and its destination was Cicero, Forsberg said.
“How the container came to be open is under investigation,” he said.
A hazardous materials team from the fire department and representatives from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency were examining the substance, a Downers Grove spokesman said.
The powder also was found on the tracks at various places between Naperville and Brookfield, Miller said.
Around 6:30 p.m., a bag of the same substance was found along tracks near the Prairie Avenue crossing in Brookfield, said Brookfield Fire Department Capt. Edward Bermann.