Fox News is reporting that a commuter and a freight train collided north of Los Angeles. No details yet. I will post more information as it comes in.
More information from the LA Times:
2 reported dead as Metrolink cars crash into freight train
"A Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight train collided in Chatsworth this afternoon, causing several cars to derail and starting a blaze. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported two dead and authorities said they expected the death toll to rise."
Photos available on their site.
Jamie
EDIT: One of the photos looks real bad. One of the MetroLink cars appears to have telescoped completely, with only some of the car side recognizable.
Just saw some video of the crash from MSNBC, Collision occured in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley. It was a head on collision where two track become single track on a sharp curve. One of the UP engines is #8491 an EMD SD70ACe. The lead engine is black from the smoke and no good picture of the number. It occured at 4:32 PM PST according to the reports.
From the aerial coverage it looks like the NB MetroLink collided with the SB Union Pacific along the curve just about 200-300 feet south of the tunnel there in Chatsworth. I think this is the exact spot:
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=34.271878&lon=-118.60135&z=18.4&r=0&src=msl
Very sad…hoping and praying for the best for all involved.
Jamie
Here’s a link to MSNBC’s story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26680908/
Death toll now reported at 4 with many additional injured, at least 8 reported critical.
Report according to CNN News.
LC
Right now, I see reports of 30 to 40 people injured, with 4 fatalities.
It took me a minute to find the Metro Link locomotive…I saw the fuel tank sitting on the tracks and realized it had telescoped back into the trailing car…thats a bad, bad wreck…any word on the UP crew?
Ed -
UP crew reported uninjured. Initial reports on UTU page indicate collision was a rear end collision with the Metrolink train rear ending the UP train. Fataility count is now at 10 as of 7:00 PDT according to CNN. CNN indicates it was a head on collision…
LC
It looks like the Metrolink locomotive telescoped into the 1st trailing passgr car very badly- probably a major contributor to the deaths / injuries.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-traincrash13-pg,0,286376.photogallery?index=6
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-traincrash13-pg,0,286376.photogallery?index=7
If this was a case of Metrolink rear-ending the UP train, then the UP train would have had to have a 2 unit DPU at the rear-end.
It looks more like a headend collision because of the way the freight cars folded together. The lead unit I believe was number 8384 ?? of 8485?? Hard to get a clear picture. Death toll has risen to 11 and most likely that number will increase through the night. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was involved.
Lead UP loco was 8485. CNN is reporting it was a “switching error”.
First story says:
Tyrell (spokesperson) said that two Metrolink subcontractors were working on the train as the conductor and an engineer. She said it remains unclear what caused the collision.
Metrolink subcontractors??
It is an awful wreck and there are several fatalities. It might end up being Metrolink’s worse wreck.
I’d hate to speculate this early, but I think Metrolink may have ran a signal or the signals were not operating properly. The CNN reported “switching error” sounds correct.
This Map shows where the collision took place. If you pan down (south) a bit you will see where the line goes down from double tracks to a single track due to several tunnels to the northwest. Metrolink had just left Chatsworth and was heading north. UP was heading south. The wreck occurred close to the signals where Metrolink would have been held. UP may have also ran a signal, but this is northwest and far from the wreck site.
The Coast Starlight and other trains will obviously be disrupted for several days.
Terrible tragedy. I’m praying for those whose families may be affected by this.
Veolia, a French-based multinational rail infrastructure and operating contractor, operates the trains under contract since July 2005. Prior to that time Amtrak was the operating contractor. Operating contracts are very common for commuter rail authorities, who do not usually have the economies of scale to effectively provide the train crews, as well as track maintenance, signal maintenance, dispatching, equipment maintenance, engineering design, construction management, environmental management, ticketing, marketing, and all the other services ncessary to run a passenger railroad. The actual “railroad” itself at some commuter agencies is a surprisingly thin staff of as little as a dozen people, who manage the contractors.
Veolia is also a contractor for rail passenger services in the U.S. in Austin, Boston, Denver, Miami, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, N.C., and San Diego.
RWM
According to the Los Angeles Times, the death toll is 15 with several more still unaccounted for. [:(]
LA Times article seems to suggest either signal failure, or human failure to read&obey signal as the lilkely cause where investigators will likely look into first:
“Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will examine many possibilities, but the most immediate questions are these: Did a warning signal malfunction? Did crew members not notice a stop signal, or did an engineer fail to follow protocols designed to move trains safely through the area?”
Full story at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-why13-2008sep13,0,7736520.story
The part I don’t get is; One of these trains had to have go past a siding earlier. We know the commuter train is scheduled, and the article seems to suggest that ‘meets’ at the siding were common. So why wasn’t the siding lined so that the first train had to go into it? At least the train is forced to go into it (or derail if speed is too high) versus creating a head-on scenario. In this age of advanced interlock control I would think its would be impossible to allow two trains to get put into a head-on scenario. Just a thought.
If the Freight train was lined to go to the siding to meet the Passenger train. The Signal would have been RED for the Passenger train and most likely the switch lined for the Freight train to take siding. However the design of switches, power and other, allows the switches to be trailed throuh without derailing the train, unless the train attempts to make a reverse movement once the switch has been run-through, as running through a switch breaks the mechanism that locks that switch points in place.
Okay, but surely running through a switch that is lined the other way is going to create enough ‘wiggle and noise’ that the engineers/operators would know something wrong just happened.