Woman killed by Metra train

An unidentified woman was killed by a Metra train this afternoon while walking on the railroad tracks south of Route 14 in Cary.

Cary police estimate the woman was between 20 and 40 years old.

A coroner is on the scene, and the woman's body has not yet been removed.

Passengers were still on the Metra train at 3:45 p.m.

The train was traveling west on the southbound tracks between Cary and Crystal Lake shortly before 2 p.m. when the accident happened.

"She could have been walking on the tracks for a while," Cary Police Sergeant Jim Fillmore said. "It's hard to say where she came from."

Metra plans to run shuttle buses between Crystal Lake and Barrington beginning at 4 p.m.

"This is going to take a while," Metra Spokesman Jon Gottlieb said. "We're going to run shuttle buses around this until it gets cleaned up."

Gottlieb said he could not say when passengers would be able to exit the train, which is at a spot on the tracks that is difficult to access.

"It's not safe to take them off," Gottleib said. "They're being inconvenienced, and we know that, but their safety comes first."