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Commuter rail train derails after collision with truck in California. At least 30 injured. Commuter train in California hits truck and derails; truck driver arrested
(about 1 hour later)
A Southern California commuter train derailed after hitting a truck early Tuesday morning in Oxnard, about 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles, injuring dozens of travelers. A commuter train in southern California derailed after hitting a truck early Tuesday morning, sending dozens of people to the hospital. No one was killed, authorities said.
At least 30 people were injured and there are no reported fatalities, said Mike Lindbery a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department. The driver of the truck fled the scene but was later arrested, according to Capt. Mike Lindbery, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department.
The Metrolink commuter train was traveling between Ventura County and Los Angeles; several of the train’s cars derailed in the accident. The truck was entirely engulfed in flames. Lindbery said that 28 people were transported to area hospitals, while 23 other people were not injured. No one had to be extricated from the train cars, which derailed in Oxnard, Calif., about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The driver of the truck fled the scene and was apprehended by police about a mile away, Lindbery said. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a team of investigators to the scene of the accident, the second time this month that it has responded to a crash involving a commuter train hitting a vehicle on the tracks.
Correction: VC Line 104 is canceled for today due to incident with train 102. Passengers board train 106; which is only traveling to Oxnard. — Metrolink (@Metrolink) February 24, 2015 Earlier this month, a Metro-North train in New York crashed into an SUV that had stopped at a track crossing; six people were killed, including the SUV’s driver.
Correction: VC Line 104 is canceled for today due to incident with train 102. Passengers board train 106; which is only traveling to Oxnard. The Metrolink train was heading from Ventura County and to Union Station in Los Angeles when it struck the vehicle at around 5:45 a.m., about 20 minutes after its scheduled departure from East Ventura. It was supposed to get to Union Station a little less than 90 minutes later.
— Metrolink (@Metrolink) February 24, 2015 The accident occurred at a busy intersection where cars are able to travel over the train tracks. The vehicle
Lindbery said that the lights at the intersection were still flashing in the hours after the crash, indicating that drivers should have stopped for an oncoming train before crossing the tracks.
“Anytime the vehicle moves onto the tracks with the lights on it’s considered a trespassing,” he said.
At least two people who were taken to the hospital had serious injuries, Lindbery said.
“I know we had a couple that were in what we call “triage immediate,” Lindbery said in a phone interview. “Those were the ones first out on the way to the hospital.”
There are a dozen stations on Metrolink’s Ventura County Line, which serves about 3,600 riders a day. The average weekday Metrolink train has about 117 riders, according to the system’s most recent ridership report.
Crucially, the locomotive’s fuel tanks — which held 1,700 gallons of fuel — remained intact, according to police.
UPDATE: Flames on the track in immediate aftermath of #Metrolink train 102 hitting vehicle http://t.co/uX36sa6ftP pic.twitter.com/XdJwr6HpUi — NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) February 24, 2015UPDATE: Flames on the track in immediate aftermath of #Metrolink train 102 hitting vehicle http://t.co/uX36sa6ftP pic.twitter.com/XdJwr6HpUi — NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) February 24, 2015
UPDATE: Flames on the track in immediate aftermath of #Metrolink train 102 hitting vehicle http://t.co/uX36sa6ftP pic.twitter.com/XdJwr6HpUiUPDATE: Flames on the track in immediate aftermath of #Metrolink train 102 hitting vehicle http://t.co/uX36sa6ftP pic.twitter.com/XdJwr6HpUi
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) February 24, 2015— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) February 24, 2015
PHOTO:#Metrolink train struck truck at crossing.Truck caught fire. Several train cars derailed http://t.co/MTisusOzgz pic.twitter.com/1kDpLVcaMp — CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 24, 2015PHOTO:#Metrolink train struck truck at crossing.Truck caught fire. Several train cars derailed http://t.co/MTisusOzgz pic.twitter.com/1kDpLVcaMp — CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 24, 2015
PHOTO:#Metrolink train struck truck at crossing.Truck caught fire. Several train cars derailed http://t.co/MTisusOzgz pic.twitter.com/1kDpLVcaMpPHOTO:#Metrolink train struck truck at crossing.Truck caught fire. Several train cars derailed http://t.co/MTisusOzgz pic.twitter.com/1kDpLVcaMp
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 24, 2015— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 24, 2015
The crash occurred at around 5:45 a.m. at a “very busy” intersection — a potentially dangerous area where cars are able to cross over train tracks and in front of the train’s path. The accident in California comes several years after the last major crash involving Metrolink, a regional commuter rail system that was created in 1992.
Lindbery said that the lights at the intersection are still flashing, indicating that drivers should have stopped for an oncoming train before crossing the tracks. In 2008, a Metrolink train crashed into a freight train in Chatsworth, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others. Investigators from the NTSB later determined that the 2008 crash was caused by the Metrolink engineer failing to respond to a red signal because he was using his phone to send text messages.
“Anytime the vehicle moves onto the tracks with the lights on it’s considered a trespassing,” he said. Another accident involving a Metrolink train hitting a vehicle on the tracks occurred in 2005. That crash killed 11 people and injured more than 170 others.
All of the injured were either treated at the scene or were transported by ambulance to local hospitals. At least two had serious injuries, Lindbery said.
” I know we had a couple that were in what we call “triage immediate,” said Lindbery. “Those were the ones first out on the way to the hospital.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday morning it was gathering information on the crash and would announce later if it would dispatch a team of investigators to the scene.
This is the second collision this month involving a commuter train hitting a vehicle on the tracks. Earlier this month, a Metro-North train in New York crashed into an SUV that had stopped at a track crossing about 25 miles away from Manhattan. Six people were killed in that Feb. 3 crash, including the SUV’s driver.
The accident in California comes several years after the last major Metrolink accident. In 2008, a Metrolink train crashed into a freight train in Chatsworth, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others.
Investigators from the NTSB later determined that the 2008 crash was caused by the Metrolink engineer failing to respond to a red signal because he was using his phone to send text messages.
In 2005, 11 people were killed and more than 170 injured when a Metrolink train crashed into an SUV on the tracks. Metrolink spent $30 million to settle lawsuits arising from this crash a decade ago.
[This post has been updated multiple times.] [This post has been updated multiple times.]