Motorist Dies in Metrolink Crash

One person died Friday when a Metrolink train carrying passengers from Lancaster to downtown Los Angeles hit a car stopped on the tracks at a Burbank crossing with a history of accidents.

The crash occurred on the third anniversary of a fatal collision involving a Metrolink train and a vehicle at the same intersection and nearly a year after a deadly wreck five miles southeast in Glendale in which 11 riders were killed and 200 injured.

Friday’s crash took place about 8:30 a.m. when a four-door sedan was on the tracks at the Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Boulevard rail crossing. Authorities are still determining if the driver drove around lowered crossing gates.

A southbound five-car train carrying 275 passengers smashed into the sedan and dragged it a third of a mile down the track. The train did not derail, and none of the passengers were injured. The driver of the car, a woman who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Officials aren’t sure how fast it was moving but said trains in that area can go up to 79 mph.

The Buena Vista Street crossing is in the middle of an 18-mile corridor between Glendale and Sylmar on the Antelope Valley line that has the highest rate of collisions of any kind involving Metrolink trains, according to Metrolink officials. Metrolink officials did not have exact figures available, but Friday’s crash marked at least the 34th fatality of a passenger or motorist along the corridor since Metrolink introduced commuter services in 1992.

The Buena Vista and San Fernando intersection was upgraded in 2002 with flashing lights, bells, crossing arms, warning signs and pavement markings, but experts say it is still a particularly dangerous nexus of cars and trains because of the angle at which the streets cross and the nearby 5 Freeway onramps, which often get backed up.

Najmedin Meshkati, a USC engineering professor who examines rail safety issues and has studied the Buena Vista intersection, said he was speechless when he learned of Friday’s crash.

“That’s one of the most confusing intersections I’ve ever seen in the Southland,” Meshkati said. “How many more wake-up calls do they need? Metrolink, the California Public Utilities Commission and the city of Burbank. They need to do something fast.”

Metrolink officials said they would have to wait for more details on Friday’s incident before determining if further safeguards were needed.

“It’s premature at this point to make any comments until the investigation is completed,” said Francisco Oaxaca, a Metrolink spokesman. Not “until we have information on what exactly took place can we look and see if there’s any need to discuss changing the crossing.”

Juli Scott, Burbank’s chief assistant city attorney, disputed claims that the crossing is unsafe.

“Of course it’s safe, and it’s actually been legally determined to be safe,” she said. “We can’t stop people from disobeying traffic laws at an intersection.”

In 2003, the National Transportation Safety Board chided Burbank for being unaware of national guidelines on rail crossing signals and recommended that the city install more prominent barriers to guide motorists turning from San Fernando Boulevard onto Buena Vista Street there. The panel also urged California to prohibit flashing red traffic signals at all rail crossings -- which drivers could mistakenly interpret as an instruction to stop and then proceed -- and replace them with a steady red light when a train approaches.

Scott said Burbank officials took a serious look at the NTSB report but decided against its recommendation that a flashing red arrow be replaced by a steady red light.

“We feel the flashing red works best for this intersection,” said Bonnie Teaford, Burbank’s interim public works director. City engineers concluded that a steady red light would have a tendency to trap large trucks in the intersection, causing greater danger than now exists, she said.

Bela Szekely, a mechanic who has run an auto repair business at the corner of San Fernando Road and Buena Vista Street since 1969, said he has seen at least 10 accidents at the intersection.

“When I saw the crash, I thought, ‘Not another one,’ ” Szekely, 68, said Friday. “We heard a massive impact, a big bang, so we went outside and saw smoke coming from the train moving slowly down the track.”

Witnesses said Friday’s crash was dramatic.

“When the train came, you saw the bumper fly in the air, and there were sparks and smoke,” said Robin Grant, 41, an eyewitness.

“I was in shock. I’ve never seen anything like that. It looked like it was stalled -- it happened so fast,” said Grant, who works at a countertop manufacturer nearby. “You could hear the dragging noise along the track. It was awful.”

The fatal crash three years ago killed Jacek “Jack” Wysocki, whose truck also somehow got onto the tracks and was hit by a passing train. One train passenger also died, and 33 riders were injured.

The NTSB later concluded that Wysocki may have encountered confusing traffic signals at the intersection.

Wysocki’s daughter-in-law, Iwona Wysocki, said Friday that she was stunned to learn of another crash on the anniversary of the day her father-in-law died.

“It’s freaky,” she said. “The same time, the same intersection. When I heard, I said, ‘My God, this is impossible.’ ”

She said she thought officials were doing too little to make the crossing safer.

“They said exactly what was wrong and what should be improved, and nothing was ever changed,” Iwona Wysocki said. “Are [authorities] waiting for a school bus to be trapped there? It’s outrageous that they get immunity from responsibility.”

Jim Cook, the engineer of the train that hit Jacek Wysocki’s vehicle, told The Times shortly after the 2003 accident that the corridor was dubbed “blood alley” and that he had had several incidents with motorists there in which his train had taken off cars’ bumpers.

“I’ve had a lot of close calls there with people getting stuck” on the tracks, he said.

After the 2003 crash, a rail overpass was also proposed. It has been approved by Caltrans but will not be built for at least two years, said Denise Tyrrell, a Metrolink spokeswoman.

The project is part of the widening of the 5 Freeway that will begin in 2008, Tyrrell said.