CHICAGO (AP) -- An elevated train filled with passengers on their morning commute caught fire Thursday, and the conductor was forced to make two emergency stops before all the riders could be evacuated. No injuries were reported.
The train pulled onto empty tracks, where flames blackened two of its cars. One of the cars was gutted, and the other was significantly damaged.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.
The conductor spotted smoke while pulling out of the 43rd Street station and stopped the train, allowing people in the last three cars to get off, Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said.
Ziegler said the train could not back up into the station, so the conductor drove to the next station a half-mile away while the two middle cars continued to burn.
Yishmael Sullivan, 23, was driving past the elevated tracks when he saw billowing black smoke and flames coming from the train. ''I thought it was a house at first, but then I seen that it was a train and I was like, 'I hope nobody's on there,''' he said.
Service on the elevated line was disrupted for about two hours.
