Delays Expected On UP-NW Metra Line After Train Hits Car: Authorities

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — One person was seriously injured when a Metra train hit a vehicle in McHenry County early on Thursday.

The Harvard Fire Protection District was called to the area of the collision near a railroad crossing on McGuire Road at about 2:25 a.m., according to a news release from the fire protection district. When emergency responders arrived at the scene, they learned the vehicle had been hit by the train about a quarter mile north of the crossing at a bend in the railroad tracks.

The vehicle was fully engulfed in flames, and emergency responders found the male patient about 20 feet down in a nearby ravine, according to authorities. He was transported to a Rockford hospital with serious injuries, authorities said.

The train involved in the collision — a Union Pacific freight train traveling north — did not derail, and no one on the train was injured.

Delays are expected Thursday morning on the Metra Union Pacific Northwest line. McGuire Road reopened at about 5:30 a.m.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.