One person is dead after a Metra train crashed into a car Thursday afternoon near downtown Arlington Heights, according to Metra officials.
The late model Mercedes was struck at 2:10 p.m. by a Union Pacific Northwest line train traveling inbound from Crystal Lake through a gated crossing at Euclid Avenue and Northwest Highway, according to Katie Dahlstrom, a Metra spokeswoman.
The train and car came to rest just east of the intersection of Ridge Avenue, several blocks east of where the collision occurred.
More than 20 emergency vehicles responded from both Metra and the Arlington Heights police and fire departments.
Megan Kolpek has been a manager at Northwest Auto Wash at the intersection where the crash occurred for more than 21 years.
Although she couldn’t recall if the gates were down when the car was in the intersection, Kolpek said one of her regular customers who was waiting on the other side of the tracks told her the train was wailing on its horn.