Man Crossing Tracks Killed by Metrolink Train
A 47-year-old Sylmar man was struck and killed by a Metrolink train traveling 78 mph Friday morning as he tried to cross the tracks.
“He almost made it,” said Glendale Police Sgt. Rick Young.
The unidentified man was five minutes late for work, Young said. About 6:05 a.m. the man hastily walked around the crossing arm at Grandview Avenue near San Fernando Road.
“He saw it coming,” Young said. “I’ve timed it, by the time the bell starts ringing and the gate comes down it takes 29 seconds for the train to come. For someone to think they can beat that is foolish.”
The conductor on the train, which was traveling south toward Los Angeles, saw the man crossing the tracks but was unable to stop.
“It just clipped him, but he was thrown 50 or 60 feet,” Young said.
The train was the first of the morning and originated in Ventura.
The death is the second this year involving trains traveling through Glendale. The first occurred in the spring and was deemed a suicide.
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