At approximately 4:23 Friday afternoon PDT, a Metrolink commuter train crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in the quiet bedroom community of Chatsworth, California, northwest of Los Angeles, killing at least 17 people [according to ABC News] and injuring more than 100.
If it weren’t for Hurricane Ike, the head-on collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train would have dominated the evening cable news non-stop “breaking” cycle.
We’re all used to these “breaking” stories of local catastrophes like crane topplings, bridge collapses or small plane crashes.
But when it happens in your own back yard it really gets your attention. The first thing you wonder is whether anyone you know could have been on that train.
In my case the answer is a more than likely ‘no,’ because I don’t know anyone who commutes to and from downtown L.A. by train.
The mass of tangled metal is so bad that it took two hours of watching to figure out what I was looking at. The crash merged the two trains into one, with the engine of the freight train going half-way into the lead passenger car.
Except for two things, this horrific wreck could have been even worse.
If it had occurred a couple of miles in one direction it would have happened in a tunnel, and a couple of miles in the other direction homes would be have been involved.
Local television coverage on six stations brought the devastation home, but also showed the generous, compassionate human side of local residents, who came out of their homes to help the injured get out of the train, administered first-aid when they could, and comforted them until paramedics arrived.
Uninjured passengers helped the injured off the train without care for their own safety or their own possible injuries, and a few gave eyewitness interviews of their experience.
One poignant moment occurred when a resident gave the 200 or so amassed police officers a flag, so they could salute a fellow LAPD officer with a brief impromptu honor guard when her body was taken off the train.
It will take weeks for the NTSB to figure out what happened, and why two trains headed in opposite directions wound up in a fatal confrontation on the same track.
