Firefighters douse blaze beneath Amtrak train on Far South Side
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CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) -
A "very small" fire temporarily halted a New York-bound Amtrak passenger train on the city's Far South Side Tuesday evening.
The fire started in a battery box underneath two unoccupied coaches on the Cardinal Line train from Chicago to New York, Amtrak spokesman Vernae Graham said.
Firefighters responded shortly before 7 p.m. and found the fire under the train in the 11500 block of South State Street, according to Fire Media Affairs.
Officials aren't sure what started the flames, but the fire was "very small" and quickly put out by firefighters using a hand pump, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Larry Langford said.
About 210 passengers were on board, and no one was hurt, Graham said.
Paramedics were checking one passenger, possibly for an anxiety attack, but have made no hospital transports, Langford said.
The train is still stopped as of about 6:30 p.m., but is expected to be moving again soon with about a half-hour delay.
The two coaches were already scheduled to be dropped off in Indianapolis and used for a Chicago-bound train, Graham said. Fire damage was limited to the outside battery box of one of the coaches, and none of the interior portions of either coach caught fire.
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