Chicago: A four-car Chicago Transit Authority train derailed today on an elevated track on the city's South Side, sending at least 24 people to hospitals.

All 24 people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries while others refused treatment for minor injuries suffered in the incident on the city's South Side, according to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

The first two cars of the four-car train sat askew at a junction between two lines but remained upright after the derailment, which CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said happened shortly after 10 am local time.

All passengers appeared to be off the train within about an hour. Emergency crews assessed more than 20 people at the scene, according to the fire department.

Renee Davis said her sister, Mary Ann Baker, was on the train and called from her cell phone shortly after the derailment. Davis said she could hear other passengers "hollering, screaming, praying."

"She said it just spin around, it just tipped," Davis said of her sister. "She hit her head, her whole body."

Today's derailment was just the latest problem for the city's deteriorating century-old train system, which runs throughout the city and to nearby communities on elevated and underground tracks.

Last month, a train derailed as it pulled into a station on the border with the city of Evanston. A week earlier, an electrical problem caused a train to stall in a subway, forcing the evacuation of up to 100 passengers and shutting down service between downtown and O Hare International Airport.

Source : PTI