Money hungry. Didn't even take time to mourn. Obviously, those lost are the least important to you.

Well a family of lawyers what would you expect?

Reilly James and John Smith..... you are both idiots, don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. I travel under that bridge, and I hope those lawyers teach the profit driven railroad a major lesson about safety and not cutting corners. 3 derailments and 2 collapses at the same location.....are you kidding me? Who the F are you to judge the victim's family? Judge the railroad company instead, or feel free to load up the family in the car and drive under the bridge a few times.

You guys are clowns! Family of lawyers? Their father was a lawyer and is now dead. His colleagues (on behalf of the family) are doing what they need to do because of the timing and clean-up while the family MOURNS. Have some respect!

Let's all take a breath....we need to remember that this family is in mourning and that they died wrongfully! The Union Pacific should have NEVER put the gravel down until all the coal was cleaned up and the area in which the "bridge" stood was cleaned and all bodies were recovered. The Linder Family has been a part of our community...both Northbrook and Glenview and the sons graduated from GBN. That "bridge" and the Willow "bridge" have never ever been safe. We need answers and I am thankful that the Linder Family has friends/colleagues that can do this for them in their time of mourning. May their memory be blessed and may the family get through this with the support of our communities and family and friends! To have the freight trains running 24 hours after the derailment and less than 12 hours after the bodies were discovered is a disgrace in my opinion of their memory!

My understanding is that having the trains running again is essential to deliver coal to the Commonwealth Edison electric facility, without which we would not have power.

Union Pacific, how many more unsafe bridges do you have out there ?

if it happened to my parents. i would be crying still and mourning.

Those viaducts are designed to handle 1000 tons ofvrolling freight on average. Do the math, 28 loaded coal cars each weighing 80 tons and holding 100 tons of coal = 5,040 tons. That's 5.04 times the design weight, standing still not rolling, of course it would collapse. As far as the lawyers disputing the heat expansion causing links in the rails tha is simple physics and chemistry. Heat causes molecules to expand this would cause the rail to kink in the weakest areas of the molecular bond of the iron in the rail. The weakness of the molecular bond is caused by the repeated expansion (heating) and contraction (cooling) of the iron rails over time. It is likes cracks in the pavement and the freeze thaw cycle in winter. The crack is the weakness in the molecular bond and potholes are the kinks. They were inspecting for this, you can't keep watch over every inch of track every minute of the day.
Those of you commenting on bridge safety are just speculating, unless you are an IDOT bridge inspector you have no idea what you are talking about. You are just fear mongering!

We all have jobs we have chosen. Lawyers must seek and preserve evidence for litigation, just as medical personnel, clergy and governmental entities must perform their functions in times on tragedy. It may not be pleasant, but someone has to do it.

Thanks Science Guy for being rational. There is no way tracks can be inspected 24/7. They could be OK at the time of inspection and buckle an hour later. There is no such thing as fail-safe. If we insisted everything be 100% safe our country would grind to a halt. Not to mention the expense; we are already bankrupt.

Two innocent people lost their lives and their family has suffered an unbearable loss - do whatever it takes to assure there are no more tragedies - Reilly james and John smith - you should be ashamed of yourselves

Thank you Bonnie! If it happened to Reilly james and John smith's parents they would be doing the exact same thing.

Why do people need to point fingers w/o any basis for opinion this early in the investigation? A tragedy ocurred and a complete investigation needs to be conducted by professionals who know what they are doing. Monday night armchair quarterbacks with no knowledge of physics or chemistry should back off and let the pros do what they need to do to answer any and all questions about the accident. Please people...take a breath and focus on prayers for the souls of these innocent people who left behind a mouring family who will be facing a tough road ahead. This back and forth spite is negativity we don't need. We are not here to judge what we have no business judging. No more accusations, name calling or shame toward anyone. Stop the insanity everyone.

Former NBM resident and the Science Guy: You both get four stars!!! Cod bless the Lindners and you too!

Has anyone even thought about pointing fingers at the couple. They were old. Maybe they hit the bridge? Maybe it was there fault? It was fourth of July right? What if they were coming and or going to a party. It is a narrow underpass. They could have lost control? Maybe car failed? Maybe driver is at fault. People are so quick to point fingers at the railroad company.

Wow John Smith! I am going to go with perhaps you don't drive that way very often, and the fact that you would even say that before these people are even buried is disturbing! The fact of the matter is...these people died because of the coal dumping and collapsing the bridge with a 30+ train car pile up! All of the train cars had coal in them. While I know there could have been other issues, if you go and LOOK at the scene you would have to rethink your statements. It was an accident that is for sure, one that was bound to happen with death to be the result. It has always been a concerned for residents in Northbrook and Glenview...derailment 1974, accidents who knows how many, derailment 2009, bridge "fixed" last year, this time people died and there might be more victims yet to be found. What if there is someone under all that who has family that lives out of town or something?!?! What if it was your parents? Would you want someone to say that about your parents? I think not!

People have the right to say what they want. Thus this comment section. I'm just saying could have been there fault. You never know. I go down that way a lot. I know how narrow it is. I'm a glenview resident.

I know its a tragedy on what happen and I feel for the families but shutting down that rail line a lot of business and people would suffer sueing up rr doesn't help the couple who was killed and it doesn't prove a point it was a accident.

John smith, I have been to more accident scenes in 22 years on the job than you could ever imagine to see along with all the blood, guts and brains that went along with most of them. A small vehicle such as the one they were driving would not have caused the bridge to come down. There were other factors at work here. Not to mention their vehicle was found not hitting into the side of the bridge but in their proper lane with the bridge on top of the vehicle. Think about it a minute & you will realize how asinine your question was.

Stuff can shift during a crash. My question is not asinine. You maybe been on a lot of scenes but every scene is different . Even your 22 years doesn't mean anything, a lot of evidence had been moved so they could get train back online. So who even knows.

Thank you Captain Obvious!! Yes every scene is different but you obviously have no knowledge re the subject. I think you are just someone who likes to stir the pot & try & piss people off with your idiotic comments. Sorry but I am bored with you now.

How dare you say it was their fault for maybe hitting that bridge. I was 7 years old in the 70's when that bridge was comprismised. That is i can't even finish this because I am so appalled by that comment.

What if it was your family?

Do u really think a car took out that bridge,what is this two mules for sister Sara was involed?

Wow, what is generating all this hostility? The heat? I don't think John Smith was serious that they were "old" and caused the accident. Hardly possible unless they were transporting explosives, and then perhaps they were terrorists? I think all the sarcasm is the result of a lot of bad guessing and an assumption that the railroad must be at fault, because it is, well, BIG. Railroad versus little guys.
Truthfully, it is a great tragedy for the family of those killed, and a terrible stroke of bad luck that they were under the bridge at the time.
There is not always a human fault factor in every tragedy, though it might make people feel better to have someone to blame.
Science Guy had the best comment so far.

Here's the reality; Two innocent people perished (hopefully no others). The family had to file a law suit. Any family would! The railroad had to get the train back and running ASAP for all sorts of reasons. If the evidence was altered or destroyed, whether by a rush to get the train "back on track" or to "cover up" the cause of the accident, is not going to bring the lives back to their families. The "process" of law suits and investigations will clarify the tragedy. Whether the people that were tragically killed were at all responsible (which as stated earlier is highly doubtful) or not males NO difference. A tragedy occurred!!! What has to happen now is to learn lessons and do the best to prevent further accidents like this, so that the death of two innocent people is not in vain.

The EVIDENCE was in the process of being removed & THAT'S why they had to act so quickly! They had to bring in their own people to investigate. The victim was HIMSELF a Personal Injury Attorney & his family undoubtably knew he would've done the same for his own clients. We do not live in a proactive society. We wait until something bad happens to take corrective measures. We don't fix something before it breaks or even when we know it "might" happen again. We wait. we wait for people to die at dangerous intersections before lights or stop signs are installed. We see it on the news all the time.

Per Science Guy's previous cogent comments, would one consider this a "Perfect Storm" of unfortunate variables? And if so, should cargo such as this NOT be transported on a bridge in an urban area where there are a lot of drivers? Is that even a practical alternative when transported across the country? Not an expert of any kind, but what would be a solution to not occurring again? You seem to have made the most sense of any Comnents I've read.

HazMat Experts and Firefighters petition Dow Chemical and Union Pacific for safe rail tank cars transporting gas chlorine. Secondary containment is a necessary improvement that must be implemented. See--PETITION C KIT for First Responders Comments.