On Wednesday, February 28, 2015, a Metrolink passenger train was derailed when it collided with a truck and trailer that had been driven onto the tracks. The driver of the truck escaped from his vehicle, but the engineer of the train and the train’s passengers were not so lucky.
Following the crash, 27 of the train’s passengers (and the engineer) were taken to local hospitals, and three passengers and the engineer were deemed to be “critically injured.” By the end of the day Wednesday, three of those patients were still classified as being in critical condition.
The video recording of the accident caught on film from a forward-facing camera that was installed on the train, is currently being evaluated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The intersection where the accident occurred averages one major railroad accident every three years (between 1976 and the present). Lack of funding for a proposed overpass project which would eliminate the need to cross the tracks is often discussed in the wake of such accidents, even though the initial proposal for the overpass was submitted at least 15 years ago.
We have previously blogged about a Metrolink train accident that was similar to the current situation. In that case, a dump truck was on the tracks at an intersection at the time that the Metrolink train was coming through. The truck did not get off the tracks in time, and more than a dozen passengers were injured as a result.