Family of journalist struck, killed at Hegewisch station holding awareness walk for anniversary

CHICAGO — The family of Grace Bentkowski, a 22-year-old rising journalist struck and killed last summer at the Hegewisch South Shore station, is holding a safety awareness walk Friday.

On the afternoon of July 25, 2024, Bentkowski got off her shift at NewsNation downtown, where she worked as a creative producer, and went shopping.

She then headed to Millennium Station to take the South Shore line home to Dyer — something she did every work day along with thousands of other Hoosiers.

When Bentkowski exited her train at the Hegewisch station, family said she walked west and saw others in front of her cross the tracks, but her view was obstructed by a large concrete pillar.

Commuters have to cross the tracks to get to the parking lot and there are no safety gates at the station.

“We have the kids on a Life360 app (provides GPS location) and we saw that she got on the train, father Phil Bentkowski told WGN News last summer. “And then a delay came up on the South Shore website. The next one said train-pedestrian accident. I thought, ‘glad it’s probably not her.’”

Bentkowski then noticed her location started going backward toward the city instead of Northwest Indiana.

“I got a bad feeling she was the one who was hit, as soon as I saw she ended up at University of Chicago I hopped in the car and drove down there,” Bentkowski said.

Bentkowski sadly passed away at the University of Chicago Medical Center from her injuries.

The 22-year-old was described as an extremely hard worker who was a total star at Ball State University.

Bentkowski excelled in the journalism program and became news director of NewsLink Indiana, which is an award-winning college station run by BSU students. She got her start as the director of Lake Central High School’s news program.

While family has been gutted since the loss, they also want a similar situation to never happen again.

Family and friends are holding a safety awareness walk Friday and left UChicago in the morning on their way to the Hegewisch station in the afternoon.

“My wife and I can’t get her back. My son lost his best friend,” Bentkowski said Friday. “If safety precautions were in place there we would not be having this conversation.”

More family and friends are meeting the group along the way and at the station.

“A year later nothing has been done,” Bentkowski said. “That’s why we have organized this walk.”

Family is wanting information released from September’s safety study at station commissioned by the South Shore Line.

The safety measure taken by the South Shore Line and Metra, who owns the property, was adding “See, Tracks, Think Train” plastic signs at the station.

Family filed a lawsuit seeking damages in February.

They will have signs and lay flowers down in Bentkowski’s memory to honor the young woman positively affected so many.

The South Shore Line issued the following statement Friday.

“Today marks one year since the tragic accident at Hegewisch Station, where Grace Bentkowski lost her life. Our hearts remain with her family, friends, and loved ones as they continue to navigate this difficult time.

Since the accident, the South Shore Line engaged a nationally recognized engineering firm that specializes in grade-crossing diagnostics to conduct a thorough evaluation of our pedestrian at-grade crossings to determine if any additional safety enhancements should be considered beyond those required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). This assessment examines key safety considerations, including train frequency and speed, pedestrian activity, visibility, and environmental conditions. We are fully committed to pursuing funding to implement safety enhancements identified as feasible by the diagnostic effort, with input from the diagnostic
participants at the Illinois Commerce Commission and Federal Railroad Administration. The
diagnostic study for Hegewisch has taken longer than initially anticipated, as we are further
studying the engineering feasibility of safely installing pedestrian gates at the crossings. The
South Shore Line, like most other railroads in the United States, adheres to the American
Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) standards. Our contracted
engineering firm is continuing to work on verifying the feasibility of the design for adding
pedestrian gates as a safety enhancement at Hegewisch, if that can be done in compliance with
AREMA standards. We expect that review to be completed shortly.

Following last summer’s accident, we took action to implement enhanced operational safety measures at the Hegewisch Station. Among these were the installation of additional signage at pedestrian crossings, designed to highlight the life-saving message from Operation Lifesaver: “See Tracks? Think Train®.” We also adjusted the train loading location for all west-bound trains.

At the South Shore Line, safety remains our top priority. Over the past decade, we’ve invested
hundreds of millions of dollars into enhancements across our network that have enhanced safety, often going beyond the standards required by the FRA.

We continue to ask all passengers and pedestrians to stay alert near railroad crossings, look both ways before crossing railroad tracks, observe all posted signage, and always keep in mind that trains can come from either direction, at any time, and on any track.

Our commitment to safety and to the communities we serve remains steadfast. To learn more
about rail safety, please visit www.oli.org and join us in supporting Operation Lifesaver’s
important campaign: “See Tracks? Think Train®.”