Train slams into truck, triggers chain reaction

A Metra express train hit a truck in Highwood Thursday night, sending it barreling into a parked car that then wound up in the front of a restaurant.

Fire officials said it was miraculous only one person was seriously injured in the crash at 5:30 p.m. at Green Bay Road and Highwood Avenue.

"The fact that no other cars were sitting at that stop sign? A lot of people got lucky tonight," Highwood Fire Department Battalion Chief Dave Mohry said.

The train was headed north, traveling between 60 and 65 mph, and bound to arrive in Kenosha at 5:39 p.m. when it hit a truck at the crossing equipped with both a stop sign and gates, according to Metra and fire reports.

Mohry said they're "not sure what happened" to cause the accident and that police are waiting for investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board to arrive.

When the train hit the truck, though, it propelled it into a car parked outside Froggy's French Café at 306 Green Bay Road. The front end of the car spun around and wound up inside the French doors at the front of the restaurant. No one in the business was injured, Mohry said.

The driver of the truck was transported by Flight for Life helicopter to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Mohry said.

Highwood police did not release any information about the accident.