Kaleidoscope Eyes
September 12th, 2008, 10:39 PM
Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A head-on collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific Corp. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=UNP%3AUS) freight train in Los Angeles has left at least 10 people dead.
The number of fatalities is likely to grow as victims are pulled from the wreckage, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Antonio+Villaraigosa&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) said at a press conference. He said dozens were injured, and that number would probably surpass 100.
``We are in the rescue phase at this point and doing everything we can to get the critically injured to the hospital,'' Villaraigosa said.
The northbound Metrolink (http://www.metrolinktrains.com/emergency/) train collided with a southbound Union Pacific freight train near Chatsworth, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services said on its Web site (http://www.oes.ca.gov/operational/malhaz.nsf/f1841a103c102734882563e200760c4a/ed9400693249d7c2882574c30009d7f7?OpenDocument). Rescuers worked into the evening using ladders to reach injured passengers from a Metrolink car that had toppled on its side. The commuter train may have carried as many as 350 people, Denise Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for the agency, told KNBC-TV.
``We're still trying to get the details sorted out,'' Zoe Richmond, a spokeswoman for Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific said in a telephone interview. ``Obviously we're trying to figure out what happened in this situation.''
Metrolink train No. 111 left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 3:35 p.m. local time and was heading to Moorpark, about 48 miles to the northwest, KNBC said. The collision took place about one hour later near the intersection of the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, about 30 miles from Union Station.
There are typically two people, a conductor and an engineer, operating a Union Pacific freight train, which can stretch a mile long with 80 to 85 cars, Richmond said.
Fumes, Smoke Plumes
Plumes of smoke from the crash could be seen by residents from nearby homes. Debris from the train spilled onto a trail behind the home of resident James Halty. He said he could smell fumes from diesel spilled from ruptured fuel tanks.
``We've lived here 20 years. There's never been a problem in the past,'' Halty, whose home backs up to the rail tracks, said in a telephone interview. ``It's very, very big.''
Thirty to 40 Metrolink trains travel past his house each day in the morning and afternoon rush hours, Halty said. ``And there are easily that many freight trains,'' he said. ``It's a very busy line.''
Officials have no details yet on what caused the accident, Officer Marjan Mobasser, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department said in an interview.
Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Rail Authority, said his agency is sending investigators to the crash site, and that the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. Calls to Terry Williams (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Terry+Williams&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), an NTSB spokesman in Washington, weren't immediately returned.
Paramedics' Call
Injured patients were transported to local hospitals, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center (http://www.providence.org/LosAngeles/facilities/Providence_Holy_Cross/default.htm) in Mission Hills, which serves the North San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys.
``We have received two patients who arrived in ambulances, and we expect more,'' said Natasha Shows, a spokeswoman for Providence Holy Cross. ``The paramedics gave us a call at about 5:05 p.m. and said there were 10 critically injured at the site and that some would be coming to us.''
The Los Angeles Fire Department called a ``tactical alert'' after the accident and extinguished fires after arriving, d'Lisa Davies, spokeswoman told KNBC.
``We have a fire problem, a medical problem and a possible haz-mat problem'' from the leaked fuel, Davies told KNBC. Updates were being posted to the city's Web site (http://groups.google.com/group/LAFD_ALERT/browse_thread/thread/3b7e004e74852945/316773944a653b79?show_docid=316773944a653b79).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a51Q5BHo4jZs&refer=home
I watched the live footage on the news for a few hours this afternoon, it's incredible. So many paramedics and firemen and police officers, just everywhere. And the passengers... I can't even imagine. You could see the engine of the freight train, and the crushed passenger car of the Metrolink, but upon closer examination the locomotive was in the middle, smashed halfway through the passenger car. From another angle, you could clearly see that nearly half of the car was just gone, almost nothing left but the wall and windows that were on the top. From the helicopter footage, you could see through an open door and a bit through the windows that the firefighters were trying to get through, and the inside was just packed with debris. I wouldn't have imagined that there could be so much stuff knocked loose inside a passenger train. In one scene, just for a moment before they panned to the side, there was a woman visible just inside the door; you could see her torso, head and arms sticking out from the debris, everything else was buried. And she wasn't moving. I think that's why they were focusing their efforts elsewhere, she couldn't be helped. They interviewed a woman who lived nearby and ran down to help, just keeping people company until the ambulances arrived or until they were fully extricated from it all. You could just see the shock on her face; she said she held a man in her arms while he died, his head was just cracked open. I can't even imagine the tragedy of all of this, its just... wow.
The number of fatalities is likely to grow as victims are pulled from the wreckage, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Antonio+Villaraigosa&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) said at a press conference. He said dozens were injured, and that number would probably surpass 100.
``We are in the rescue phase at this point and doing everything we can to get the critically injured to the hospital,'' Villaraigosa said.
The northbound Metrolink (http://www.metrolinktrains.com/emergency/) train collided with a southbound Union Pacific freight train near Chatsworth, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services said on its Web site (http://www.oes.ca.gov/operational/malhaz.nsf/f1841a103c102734882563e200760c4a/ed9400693249d7c2882574c30009d7f7?OpenDocument). Rescuers worked into the evening using ladders to reach injured passengers from a Metrolink car that had toppled on its side. The commuter train may have carried as many as 350 people, Denise Tyrrell, a spokeswoman for the agency, told KNBC-TV.
``We're still trying to get the details sorted out,'' Zoe Richmond, a spokeswoman for Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific said in a telephone interview. ``Obviously we're trying to figure out what happened in this situation.''
Metrolink train No. 111 left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 3:35 p.m. local time and was heading to Moorpark, about 48 miles to the northwest, KNBC said. The collision took place about one hour later near the intersection of the Ronald Reagan (118) Freeway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard, about 30 miles from Union Station.
There are typically two people, a conductor and an engineer, operating a Union Pacific freight train, which can stretch a mile long with 80 to 85 cars, Richmond said.
Fumes, Smoke Plumes
Plumes of smoke from the crash could be seen by residents from nearby homes. Debris from the train spilled onto a trail behind the home of resident James Halty. He said he could smell fumes from diesel spilled from ruptured fuel tanks.
``We've lived here 20 years. There's never been a problem in the past,'' Halty, whose home backs up to the rail tracks, said in a telephone interview. ``It's very, very big.''
Thirty to 40 Metrolink trains travel past his house each day in the morning and afternoon rush hours, Halty said. ``And there are easily that many freight trains,'' he said. ``It's a very busy line.''
Officials have no details yet on what caused the accident, Officer Marjan Mobasser, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department said in an interview.
Warren Flatau, a spokesman for the Federal Rail Authority, said his agency is sending investigators to the crash site, and that the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. Calls to Terry Williams (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Terry+Williams&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), an NTSB spokesman in Washington, weren't immediately returned.
Paramedics' Call
Injured patients were transported to local hospitals, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Providence Holy Cross Medical Center (http://www.providence.org/LosAngeles/facilities/Providence_Holy_Cross/default.htm) in Mission Hills, which serves the North San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys.
``We have received two patients who arrived in ambulances, and we expect more,'' said Natasha Shows, a spokeswoman for Providence Holy Cross. ``The paramedics gave us a call at about 5:05 p.m. and said there were 10 critically injured at the site and that some would be coming to us.''
The Los Angeles Fire Department called a ``tactical alert'' after the accident and extinguished fires after arriving, d'Lisa Davies, spokeswoman told KNBC.
``We have a fire problem, a medical problem and a possible haz-mat problem'' from the leaked fuel, Davies told KNBC. Updates were being posted to the city's Web site (http://groups.google.com/group/LAFD_ALERT/browse_thread/thread/3b7e004e74852945/316773944a653b79?show_docid=316773944a653b79).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a51Q5BHo4jZs&refer=home
I watched the live footage on the news for a few hours this afternoon, it's incredible. So many paramedics and firemen and police officers, just everywhere. And the passengers... I can't even imagine. You could see the engine of the freight train, and the crushed passenger car of the Metrolink, but upon closer examination the locomotive was in the middle, smashed halfway through the passenger car. From another angle, you could clearly see that nearly half of the car was just gone, almost nothing left but the wall and windows that were on the top. From the helicopter footage, you could see through an open door and a bit through the windows that the firefighters were trying to get through, and the inside was just packed with debris. I wouldn't have imagined that there could be so much stuff knocked loose inside a passenger train. In one scene, just for a moment before they panned to the side, there was a woman visible just inside the door; you could see her torso, head and arms sticking out from the debris, everything else was buried. And she wasn't moving. I think that's why they were focusing their efforts elsewhere, she couldn't be helped. They interviewed a woman who lived nearby and ran down to help, just keeping people company until the ambulances arrived or until they were fully extricated from it all. You could just see the shock on her face; she said she held a man in her arms while he died, his head was just cracked open. I can't even imagine the tragedy of all of this, its just... wow.