WBBM-TV reports: An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a small white sedan on the tracks in downtown Lemont Monday afternoon. Just moments before the collision, rescuers pulled a woman – a Roman Catholic nun — from that car, which had been disabled on the tracks.
It happened just before 1 p.m. at Main and Stephen streets. The passenger train was roaring into town on its run from San Antonio, Texas to downtown Chicago.
The nun apparently slammed her car into a fireplug and rolled across an embankment and onto the tracks. Witnesses say she sat there, stunned and unmoving.
Brad Grcevic, whose office is nearby, says he saw two men help the nun out of her car, get her belongings together and get her off the tracks.
“We saw the headlights (of the train) down there, coming from that direction. It wasn’t going to be good,” another witness, Brian Brandt, said.
Then the train plowed into the car. “When it hit, it was like an explosion, and that was it.” Brandt said. “It just shot right through there.”
A cell phone video shows the collision.
The nun, whose name has not been released, is with the Sisters of St. Francis- Christ the King in Lemont. Her order says she is “fine” but would not comment further about the incident.
Brandt praised her rescuers.
“These guys were in the right place at the right time and didn’t just stand around,” he said. “They did something and got her out of there.”
Two hours after the crash, after an inspection, the train continued on to downtown Chicago. Amtrak could not tell us how many passengers were on board. The passengers and crew were rattled and delayed on their trip, but none of them were injured.