Metrolink Train Hits Truck; 1 Killed, 12 Hurt : Accident: Collision occurs at unguarded crossing in Pacoima. Man who died was driving a city dump truck.

A Metrolink train carrying about 80 passengers derailed Wednesday morning after striking a Los Angeles street maintenance truck at an unguarded crossing in Pacoima, killing the truck driver and slightly injuring 12 rail passengers.

The 6:50 a.m. accident was the first for the new commuter train service, which began Oct. 26.

The truck driver, Jaime Farias, 37, of Los Angeles, died in the collision, which witnesses said sent flames, smoke and debris about 50 feet into the air and scattered twisted truck parts for nearly half a mile along the tracks. Farias suffered massive head injuries, but an official cause of death will not be known until an autopsy is completed, a coroner’s spokesman said.

Most of the injuries on the train were minor. Two passengers, a 56-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man, were taken to a hospital where they were treated and released, police said.

Even before the crippled train was hauled off the tracks, City Councilman Nate Holden, chairman of the council’s Transportation Committee, was at the scene, calling for an investigation of safety at unguarded crossings and a study to determine if the trains should travel more slowly in populated areas. At the time of the accident the train was traveling 77 m.p.h., and Metrolink officials said the trains are allowed to go as fast as 79 m.p.h. on that stretch.

“We have to review the whole Metrolink system from the standpoint of safety,” Holden said. “This should be, if anything, a learning experience. It should never happen again.”

The collision immediately sparked questions over who is responsible for safety at unmarked private rail crossings.

The crossing at Del Sur Street, where the empty dump truck was hit, had no warning lights, crossing barriers or markings on the pavement. By law, crossings on private property are required to have stop signs on both sides of the tracks. But investigators said it was unclear whether stop signs had been installed and were knocked down during the collision.

There are 111 rail crossings along Metrolink’s three lines, including four on private property that have crossing gates and seven private crossings with no safety devices, county rail officials said.

The accident was the first test of Metrolink’s on-board emergency response procedures.

Passengers interviewed after the collision said they were not told how to evacuate the train even though Metrolink officials said policy requires the train conductor to use the public address system to guide passengers off.

Nonetheless, passengers said they were able to get out of the train by pushing open windows and doors.

Metrolink officials downplayed the safety concerns, saying that, with 12 trains traveling each morning along 132 miles of track, a crossing accident was bound to occur.

“I think this rail service is as safe as any other service, if not safer,” said Bill Currier, director of operations for the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which operates Metrolink. “It’s a safe means of transportation.”

The train--the second of three morning trains from Santa Clarita to downtown Los Angeles--left at 6:26 a.m. It struck the five-ton dump truck at a crossing that leads into a Los Angeles city street maintenance yard where asphalt from road construction is recycled and stored, Currier said.

The locomotive was pushing the three passenger cars while the engineer operated the train from a booth at the front of the lead passenger car.

The engineer, George Sefick, whom Currier described only as experienced, saw the truck in his path and sounded the whistle before slamming on the train’s emergency brakes, Currier said. Before the impact, Sefick fled his booth, warned the passengers in the adjacent compartment and dived to the floor of the car, Currier said.

“It was a pretty common reaction for an engineer,” he said.

Investigators said they had not determined whether Farias’ truck had stalled on the tracks, whether he had tried to outrun the train or whether he simply did not see or hear it.

Mohammad Shaikhsaheb, site manager at the asphalt recycling plant, said dump trucks carrying asphalt to and from the site are instructed to avoid using the railroad crossing entrance and instead are told to enter the plant from a driveway on the opposite side of the facility.

He said only cars and light trucks are supposed to use the railroad crossing entrance.

The train split the truck and dragged parts of it for more than half a mile before twisted metal lodged under the train wheels, derailing the lead passenger car, police said.

Jim Mackey, 40, of Canyon Country, said he was sitting in his office in an industrial building across the road from the railroad tracks when he heard a loud boom that “sounded like somebody dropped a bomb.”

“They blew their train whistle and all of a sudden, there was a boom,” Mackey said. “I ran out here and there was smoke and dust so you couldn’t even see across the street. There was dirt flying 50 feet in the air.”

Passengers said they felt a jolt but did not realize what had happened until they saw flames and parts of the truck.

“The scary part was when the flames came by the window,” said Bob Klimek, a Santa Clarita resident who was in the second car. “There was a lot of flames.”

Lucrecia Crippen, a passenger traveling from Santa Clarita to Burbank, said she felt the impact and saw the wheels of the truck fly past her window. She said most people in the car remained calm during the evacuation.

“Mainly, I think people were afraid because of the fire,” she said. Los Angeles Police Lt. Charles Kunz, commander of the Traffic Investigation Coordination Section, said spilled diesel fuel from the truck was ignited by the friction of metal truck parts grinding against the tracks.

In addition to Los Angeles police, the federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators to the accident.

The Railroad Administration will have ultimate authority over the investigation because the accident occurred on interstate tracks, said Richard Stanger, Metrolink executive director. However, federal investigators, who will be working with local officials, will not issue a report on the incident unless they believe train operators need to correct a deficiency in the system. In addition, Amtrak, which has been hired to run the trains, is expected to file a report to the Railroad Administration by Monday explaining how the accident occurred, county rail officials said.

Most of the passengers said the incident did not discourage them from continuing to ride Metrolink.

“It’s still safer than driving,” said Bill King, who was traveling to his job in downtown Los Angeles.

About a dozen taxis were sent to the scene where they offered the stranded passengers free rides to their destinations.

Metrolink officials kept the 7:21 train from leaving Santa Clarita and transferred passengers to buses.

Currier said during a news conference at the accident scene that the tracks, known as the Saugus Line, are owned by Southern Pacific Railroad Co. and the responsibility of safety at unguarded rail crossings lies with Southern Pacific and the private property owners.

Carolynne Born, a spokeswoman for Southern Pacific, acknowledged that the railroad company and the property owner share responsibility, but she said it was not clear who is responsible for placing warning signs at such crossings.

At City Hall, Holden made a motion before the council that the Department of Transportation work with the Police Department, the Fire Department, the city attorney and public works officials to investigate the accident. The report, he said, should be returned to the City Council within 45 days.

The motion also called for the council to ask the executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission and the executive director of Metrolink to report to the City Council within 45 days about the cause and what steps are being taken to prevent accidents.

The motion will go before the council for a vote on Dec. 4, according to the City Clerk’s office.

* SAFETY CONCERNS: Fatal collision between Metrolink train and dump truck stirs safety concerns.

Metrolink Crash

A dump truck pulling into a city maintenance yard in Pacoima was struck by a southbound Metrolink train as it crossed the tracks on an unmarked, private crossing between Vaughn and Desmond streets. The train dragged parts of the truck nearly half a mile before derailing near Paxton Street and San Fernando Road.