posted 04-23-2002 03:35 PM            

The northbound freight train hit the southbound Metrolink train at 8:10
a.m. south of Los Angeles, buckling and derailing two cars packed with
passengers, authorities and witnesses said.

The Orange County coroner's office reported one fatality. Officials said
265 people were injured, some seriously.

Up to 75 passengers were being sent to trauma centers, and the rest were
being treated at the scene, authorities said.

"The train stopped for a couple seconds. The freight train just hit us,"
passenger Scott Wilson said. "For me I was facing backward, Maybe that's
how I ended up being OK."

One witness said the Metrolink train was stopped on the track when the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train, traveling at about 30 mph,
hit the passenger train. Two passenger cars were buckled and derailed,
but they remained upright.

The crash occurred about 35 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Firefighters, some using ladders, helped passengers out of the derailed
two-decker Metrolink train and treated the most seriously injured in a
triage area. All area hospitals were put on alert.

Many of the victims had internal injuries and broken bones.

"We also have walking wounded who self-rescued themselves from the
train," fire spokesman Dennis Shell said.

The Metrolink 809 was headed from Riverside to San Juan Capistrano on a
route that serves 3,000 passengers each day. It had left the west Corona
station and was scheduled to stop at the Anaheim Canyon station.

It wasn't immediately known how many people were on the train.

Metrolink officials said they didn't know how the two trains wound up on
the same track.

"This is obviously a very serious incident and there is an
investigation," Metrolink spokeswoman Sharon Gavin said.

Several streets in the area were closed because of the wreckage and the
length of the freight train. It was carrying dozens of cars.

Lena Kent, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, said the
railroad owns and maintains the stretch of rail where the collision
occurred. The BNSF runs 55 freight trains a day along the line, which
connects Los Angeles and Chicago.

Metrolink carries more than 32,000 passengers a day across the region.
It runs 128 trains a day. Its trains travel at 44 mph on average, weigh
450 tons and take one-third of a mile to stop, according to the commuter
rail system.

posted 04-23-2002 07:28 PM            

One thing I did notice, however. Even though the first-hand story was related by someone who is very knowledgeable on the subject of railroading there are a few statements in there to which I thought to myself...No. That's wrong!.