A freight train slammed into a car near Old Mill Road and Waukegan Road in Lake Forest around 11:35 a.m. Friday, seriously injuring the driver and halting Metra service on the Milwaukee District North Line for hours. The driver, a man in his 50s, was rushed to a hospital in critical condition after what police say was a preliminary finding that he appeared to be intentionally positioned on the tracks.
Lake Forest police said the man was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, according to CBS Chicago, which first reported the collision and its aftermath. Condell serves as Lake County's only designated Level 1 Trauma Center, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, making it the natural destination for a critically injured patient needing specialized acute care. Metra temporarily halted inbound and outbound trains on the line while crews cleared the scene, with normal service not resuming until Friday afternoon, leaving commuters to face extensive delays throughout the disruption.
A Crossing With a Deadly History
Friday's crash happened at the same intersection where a 35-year-old Northwestern Medicine surgeon was killed in November 2013, when his sedan drove around lowered gates and was struck by a southbound Metra Milwaukee District North train. That earlier collision, detailed in a report from the Daily Northwestern, pushed the vehicle nearly 100 yards down the track after warning lights and bells had already activated. More than a decade later, the same stretch of Old Mill Road and Waukegan Road has again become the site of a serious, potentially life-altering collision.
This is not the first time trains have struck people in Lake Forest on this corridor. Hoodline previously reported on a 2024 Lake Forest train strike that similarly halted rail traffic on the Milwaukee District North Line. The corridor is a busy one: while Metra owns the line's infrastructure, freight operator Canadian Pacific Kansas City holds trackage and dispatching rights along it, sharing the tracks with dozens of daily Metra commuter trains and Amtrak passenger trains.
Police Emphasize Mental Health Resources
Lake Forest Police Chief John Burke said mental health crisis help is available following the crash, pointing residents toward local and county resources rather than dwelling on the circumstances of the collision. The Lake County Crisis Care Program provides crisis counseling and connections to the county's mobile response team, and is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The program includes a round-the-clock hotline, mobile response teams, and a walk-in crisis center with short-term respite stabilization units at 3002 Grand Avenue in Waukegan, according to a bulletin from the Lake County Health Department.
The Lake Forest Police Department's own social worker can also connect individuals with mental health resources and community services. That position exists amid significant local demand: the department responded to 538 mental health-related calls for service in 2024, which led the city to hire a full-time police social worker in 2022 and, this year, introduce a St. Bernard comfort dog named Winston, according to the City of Lake Forest. Lake Forest police also participate in the Lake County Crisis Outreach and Support Team, a regional initiative launched in 2022 that pairs officers with licensed social workers and clinicians and has responded to more than 5,000 requests for service, per the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Anyone in crisis can also call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and emergency assistance is always available by calling 911.
A Statewide Pattern on the Rails
Friday's crash fits into a broader pattern of rail danger across Illinois. Preliminary 2025 Federal Railroad Administration data compiled by Operation Lifesaver ranked Illinois third nationally for pedestrian rail trespassing casualties, with 44 fatalities and 24 injuries recorded along railroad rights-of-way, according to the Operation Lifesaver data. The state also ranked fifth in the nation for highway-rail grade crossing collisions in 2025, recording 25 deaths and 43 injuries across more than 10,200 public crossings.
Nationally, preliminary federal figures show 2,273 highway-rail grade crossing collisions occurred in 2025, resulting in 286 fatalities and 766 nonfatal injuries, a slight increase from the 2,268 incidents recorded the year before. Under Illinois law, drivers approaching an activated railroad crossing must stop between 15 and 50 feet from the nearest track, facing minimum fines of $500 for a first offense and $1,000 plus a mandatory six-month license suspension for repeat violations of driving around closed gates.
