http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-traincrash13-2008sep13,0,2874450.story
15 reported dead as Metrolink cars crash into freight train
70 people are injured, some of them critically. Sheriff’s officials expect more fatalities. Up to 400 may have been on passenger train.
8:29 PM PDT, September 12, 2008
A Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight train collided in Chatsworth this afternoon, killing at least 15 people and injuring at least 70 others. Dozens of people were believed to be trapped in the wreckage despite the efforts of more than 100 firefighters, police officers and paramedics.
One of the fatalities is believed to be the Metrolink engineer.
We have very good coverage here on KABC (7). The rail car that is being worked on by emergency responders, has been destroyed.
This Metrolink train had three cars and the engine. Cars 2 and 3 behind the engine remained upright, but everyone was thrown in those cars. People landed in heaps 1 to whatever deep. Broken noses, legs, arms... it was a mess even in those cars. Some critical injuries even in them.
The front passenger car was penetrated by the engine being driven back into the car. The force of the passenger cars moving forward coupled with the force of the engine coming to a stop and being driven backwards by the freight train, drove that engine about half the way into the forward passenger rail car.
Seats and rail car infrastructure in the front passenger car were compacted in the back of the car, humans mixed in. The engine worked somewhat like a plunger, just pushing everything back into the half of the car that remained. The engine also pealed the sides of the train outward.
There are nine windows in in the center section of the car that make up about the center 60% of the car. The engine penetrated that car about back to about 4.5 windows in that section. It’s fairly clear that about half that car was simply obliterated during the impact.
The three cars would normally carry about 350 to 450 individuals. Friday evenings the passengers seem to drop a bit. Folks who drive into the city on Monday morning drive out on Friday evenings. That’s what Metorlink reports.
It was likely there were about 150 passengers in each of the three cars. It’s not uncommon for folks to be standing room only at times, but this may not have been the case today. Passengers do no check in like they do at the airport. If you have a pass or a ticket, you get on. There is no exact manifest. Metrolink doesn’t know exactly how many were on board.
With half the front car no longer there, the remainder of that car compacted in the remaining half, seats just a jumbled mess, it’s hard for me to understand how there could only be ten fatalities. I told my wife initially that there had to be at least 25 dead. After looking at the dynamics involved in that front car, it would seem an absolute miracle to me if 50 to 75 people weren’t dead in that front car.
Still this late in the evening, they are only reporting out ten dead. And perhaps folks were incredibly lucky, and there are far fewer than it seemed to me. We can certainly hope so.
Some victims taken to hospitals had crush injuries. Some were very critical. Others had minor to severe injuries, compound fractures to blood in the lungs and such.
Dogs were just brought in to sniff for survivors. There is renewed activity now as the emergency responders seem to be trying to uncover another victim, possibly spotted by the dogs.
One LAPD officer was on board, and was one of the fatalities. One Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy was on board, not injured. He called in the report immediately after the incident.
The accident took place on a curve section of track. A siding near the accident site was not used. The Metrolink could have used that siding. Did the Engineer not see a warning to use it? We don’t know yet.
I have a friend of twenty years who is a conductor. His name is Bob. One woman reported earlier this evening that conductor Bob had two broken legs. The engineer was a fatality. I don’t know if this conductor is my friend or not.
More to follow.