Driver Skirted Train Gates

A motorist who died Friday in a collision with a Metrolink train in Burbank drove around lowered crossing gates, possibly in an attempt to outrun the oncoming train, officials said Saturday.

“Everything was working properly at the time and, for some reason, she drove around the crossing gates,” said Denise Tyrrell, a Metrolink spokeswoman. “There were witnesses who saw this, but we don’t have any insight into why she made such a choice.”

The woman was identified by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office as Maureen Osborn, 76, of Glendale.

The crash occurred about 8:30 a.m. at the railroad crossing at Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Boulevard, an intersection with a history of accidents.

Osborn’s car was hit by a southbound five-car train with 275 passengers on board and dragged down the track for a third of a mile. She probably died on impact, said Lt. Larry Dietz of the coroner’s office.

None of the passengers was injured, and the train, which did not derail, sustained only “cosmetic damage,” Tyrrell said.

Train service was interrupted for several hours Friday. After service was restored, trains had to slow as they passed the crash site, but they were back at normal speed by Saturday morning, Tyrrell said.

Friday’s incident came on the third anniversary of another deadly train crash at the same intersection. In that incident, a truck that was stopped on the tracks was smashed by a commuter train, killing the truck driver and a passenger on the train. Thirty-three train riders were injured.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the truck driver encountered confusing traffic signals at the intersection.

Some experts have criticized the Buena Vista crossing for not having enough safeguards because of the sharp angle at which the roads meet and the nearby onramp to the Golden State Freeway, which often leaves traffic backed up.

The crossing is in the middle of an 18-mile corridor between Sylmar and Glendale that has the highest rate of accidents for Metrolink. At least 34 people have died along the route since commuter services were introduced in 1992. They include victims of last year’s Glendale crash in which 11 riders were killed.

Tyrrell said Friday’s accident should serve as a reminder that motorists cannot outrun an oncoming train.

The speed limit for trains at the Buena Vista crossing is 79 mph, and Tyrrell said it takes 12 seconds for a train to reach the intersection after the gates are lowered.

“It’s impossible to tell the speed of an oncoming train,” Tyrrell said. “She may have seen the train and believed she could judge how fast it was moving. No one can judge the speed of a train.”