Chicago train service resumes

CTA Blue Line trains were running again Tuesday afternoon, hours after four trains were evacuated and riders were forced to exit through the subway tunnel after a train malfunctioned.

Seven people, including a pregnant woman, were taken to hospitals for what were believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.

CTA President Ron Huberman said one train stopped in the subway near the Clark/Lake station around 8:10 a.m. because of a mechanical problem, stalling three southbound trains behind it. He said riders on one of the stalled trains decided to get out onto the tracks, causing CTA officials to cut power to the line.

"If not for the [riders'] evacuation, we could have restored that service in around 25 minutes," Huberman said. He said the initial mechanical problem was reported at 8:10 a.m. and by about 9 a.m. the problem was mostly corrected.

The mechanical breakdown led to other trains both into and out of downtown being stopped Tuesday morning and their passengers being led through the tunnels after power was shut off to the Blue Line between the Near Northwest Side and Near West Side, including all downtown stops.

While there were no reports of injuries or transports to hospitals, ambulances were on the scene and personnel were tending to some passengers who had been evacuated from trains.

The situation began Tuesday morning when a Blue Line train near the Clark and Lake station "experienced mechanical problems," according to a CTA spokeswoman.

The stalled train was southbound, and the situation affected travel in both directions on the Blue Line, according to a CTA rider alert.

"Several trains" were stalled in the subway, according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Rich Rosado. Firefighters "have evacuated several hundred people from the trains" out of the subway and onto the street, he said.

There were apparently three trains being evacuated by firefighters, according to fire dispatch reports. Among the passengers evacuated were reports of at least one pregnant women and one diabetic woman being treated at the scene.