A Union Pacific freight train hauling coal from Wyoming to Wisconsin derailed Wednesday afternoon, July 4, 2012, on a viaduct over Shermer Road, between Willow Road and Holste Road in Glenview. The viaduct subsequently collapsed. Cleanup crews on Thursday morning, July 5, 2012, discovered a car buried beneath the rubble. The driver, Burt Lindner, and the passenger, his wife, Zorine, both of Glenview, were killed.

Key terms of the agreement up for discussion:

• Union Pacific will fund and build an approximately 149-foot-long bridge with a 57-foot clear span to provide for three 12-feet-wide traffic lanes, a 10-foot-wide bike path, a 7-foot-wide bike path and four feet of curbing, estimated to cost $10 million.
• Union Pacific will fund construction of a temporary connection to Patriot Bouelvard via Old Willow Road to facilitate traffic from businesses south of the closed bridge to detour to Willow Road, at a cost of up to $275,000.
• Union Pacific will fund construction of a temporary traffic control signal at West Lake Avenue and Shermer Road to improve traffic flow, at a cost of up to $57,000.
• Glenview, Northbrook and the Illinois Department of Transportation will be reponsible for funding and building the roadway improvements at a future point in time that will be compliant with IDOT’s Complete Streets guidelines.

July 17, 2012 -- Representatives of Union Pacific Railroad (UP) discussed the circumstances surrounding the July 4, 2012 freight train derailment and viaduct collapse on Shermer Road at a community meeting Monday, July 16, 2012, at the request of Glenview and Northbrook village officials.

• The July 4 derailment was due to an overheated track expanding and buckling. It was described as a heat-related anomaly to the track that developed underneath the train as it approached the bridge from the south. A consulting engineering firm hired by UP determined there was no structural problem with the bridge. It was simply downstream from where the derailment occurred, which forced the rail cars to jackknife on the bridge, leading to its collapse.
• Inspectors traverse the rail corridor every day during hot weather looking for kinks in the rail. On July 4, a person responsible for maintaining the signal system noticed "something that didn’t look exactly right” and called an expert to have a second look. "We don't believe what he saw was severe enough to cause him to do anything more than he did," said David Connell, UP's vice president of engineering. The expert arrived at about the same time the accident occurred.
• Having trains travel at slower speeds on hot days would not have prevented the bridge collapse.
• The temporary embankment of crushed concrete built across Shermer Road to support the track so trains can continue to run is inspected weekly. Soil borings taken Friday, July 13, indicate there is a strong base below it.
• The November 1, 2009 derailment that occurred a couple hundred feet north of the Shermer Road viaduct on Union Pacific track involved a train operated by another company. A mechanical failure caused it to derail as a train was passing in the opposite direction.
• Work on the Shermer Road bridge that closed the roadway from June 27 to October 5, 2011 had been planned prior to the 2009 derailment to address concrete abutment concerns and replace beams that sit on top of the concrete piers.
• Although no crews have been working overnight at the repair site since Saturday, July 7, residents reported passing trains have been sounding their horns throughout the night. UP asked that residents note the time the train passed and report the whistle blowing by calling 1-888-877-7267.