Man Drinking on Tracks Killed by Metrolink Train

A Metrolink train struck and killed a man Wednesday as he drank with companions on railroad tracks in Sun Valley, the fifth Metrolink casualty since the commuter train service began in October.

A train moving at 60 m.p.h. that had just left the Burbank station en route to Santa Clarita hit the man shortly after 6 p.m. about 50 feet from San Fernando Road and Sunland Boulevard, Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo said. The unidentified victim, about 32 years old, died of massive chest trauma, police said.

The train’s driver, whose name was not released, also was at the controls of a Metrolink train that hit a dump truck at an unguarded crossing in Pacoima on Nov. 25, killing driver Jaime Farias, 37, of Los Angeles, Hidalgo said. The accidents were about 4 1/2 miles apart.

Hidalgo said the engineer would be counseled and accompanied by another Metrolink employee on his next scheduled shift. “This is very traumatic situation for our engineers,” Hidalgo said.

On Wednesday, the engineer noticed five men sitting on the tracks “apparently drinking alcohol,” Hidalgo said. “They have been seen drinking there regularly.”

When the engineer blew the train’s horn, “four of them stepped off the tracks. One of them did not. The train struck that person.”

The man was thrown about 250 feet from the intersection, where his body struck a pickup truck parked in the railroad right of way and slid underneath, Los Angeles Police Lt. Charles Kunz said.

The owner of the truck, Race Hileman, said that when he returned to the vehicle shortly afterward, he thought someone had fallen asleep under his truck or that “I had run someone over.”

Minutes later, ambulances arrived and paramedics pronounced the man dead, Kunz said. Authorities found no witnesses other than the train engineer. The victim’s companions apparently fled.

Hidalgo said it was impossible for the train--which halted about a mile past the accident scene--to stop in time. “Our 12-million-pound train cannot stop on a dime,” Hidalgo said.

The train’s crew and 104 passengers were not hurt.

It was the fifth death since the start of Metrolink service in October on the lines that connect downtown Los Angeles to Ventura County and Santa Clarita.

In addition to Wednesday’s fatality, and the truck driver killed in Pacoima, Eric Pola, 23, of Encino was hit by a train Jan. 22 as he tried to sneak into a drive-in theater on Winnetka Avenue in Chatsworth. On Dec. 28, Epifanio Ascencio Lopez, 31, of Pacoima died instantly when he walked onto railroad tracks in Pacoima. A week before that, Kurt Anderson, 34, of Simi Valley threw himself in front of a train on the Moorpark line in Simi Valley.