Driver Dies in Apparent Try to Beat Train

A man apparently trying to beat an oncoming Metrolink train to a crossing was killed Wednesday when he drove around a safety barrier and was broadsided by the train, traveling at 50 mph, authorities said.

The unidentified man, believed to be about 40 years old, died at the scene shortly after the 6:38 p.m. accident, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis said. The accident occurred near the intersection of Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road.

The rush-hour train was carrying 140 passengers and two crew members from Union Station in Los Angeles to Santa Clarita, Metrolink spokesman Peter Hidalgo said. No one aboard was injured. Hidalgo said the passengers might be bused to their destination; they had waited more than two hours at the scene.

“Our engineer tells us a trespassing motorist, in their attempt to beat the train, had gone around the gate,” Hidalgo said. The train’s engineer blew the horn several times, Hidalgo added.

The man is the second motorist to die in an accident with a Metrolink train this year, Hidalgo said.

All told, 32 pedestrians and motorists have died in train-related accidents since Metrolink began operating in October 1992. Another 16 deaths have been ruled suicides.