An Oak Brook woman was killed Thursday morning in Clarendon Hills when she attempted to catch a train stopped at the station and was struck by an inbound express train.

Shortly before 8 a.m., Jessica Ing, 34, ran across the tracks after the gates were down, Clarendon Hills police Chief Boyd Farmer said. Ing's mother had dropped her off at the station moments earlier.

Coincidentally, two Clarendon Hills police officers were at the station at the time, cautioning people and issuing warning citations for crossing the tracks when gates are down. The effort was part of Illinois Rail Safety Week, an annual event sponsored by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and Illinois Operation Lifesaver.

"They did not see it but heard it, turned and looked," Farmer said of the officers. "They saw her body immediately after she had been struck by the train."

A video from the scene shows Ing running full speed from the northwest corner of the crossing at Prospect Avenue. She passes the downed gate and heads southeast to catch an inbound train stopped at the station, Farmer said.

"You can see that she put her hands up, trying to stop," Farmer said. "She must have seen the express train out of the corner of her eye, and she did react to it."

Farmer said the inbound train at the station was on the farthest south of three tracks. The express train was on the middle track, traveling about 65 mph.

Farmer said video shows a man in a suit also crossed the tracks just before Ing.

Chuck Fieldman/Pioneer Press Police search the tracks at the Clarendon Hills Metra station after a woman was struck by an express train Thursday morning. Police search the tracks at the Clarendon Hills Metra station after a woman was struck by an express train Thursday morning. (Chuck Fieldman/Pioneer Press)

Farmer said Ing's mother "crumpled on the platform" after the incident, but he doesn't think she saw the train strike her daughter.

Hinsdale-Clarendon Hills District 181 spokeswoman Bridget McGuiggan said some students and staff at Walker and Prospect schools and Clarendon Hills Middle School may have witnessed the incident. Social workers and other staff were on hand to provide assistance to them, and students' parents were contacted as needed, she said.

Trains in both directions were stopped for more than an hour after the accident, and other trains were delayed or rescheduled throughout the morning.

The train that struck Ing was No. 1242. Metra spokesman Tom Miller said the express train originated in Aurora at 7:22 a.m.

The crash during safety week occurred the morning after a Metra train in Lake Barrington struck a 78-year-old Barrington man on an area of track that is not authorized for vehicular traffic, according to the Lake County sheriff's office.

Sheriff's deputies responded to a call of a train striking a car in the area of Route 14 and Kelsey Road in Lake Barrington about 7:25 p.m. Wednesday, according to sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli.

The man was either exiting or had just exited his car when the train struck the Cadillac, Covelli said. The man suffered critical injuries and an ambulance took him to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.

Chuck Fieldman/Pioneer Press Metra workers along the tracks after the accident as other trains pass by. Metra workers along the tracks after the accident as other trains pass by. (Chuck Fieldman/Pioneer Press)

Chicago Tribune's Ted Gregory contributed.

cfieldman@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @chuckwriting