Train Crash

Last Friday morning resident of Glendale who was a Glendale Police Department volunteer was struck by a Metrolink train traveling southbound at the intersection of Buena Vista Avenue and San Fernando Road in Burbank. At about 8:30 a.m. Maureen B. Osborn's vehicle was struck by a Metrolink train. She was returning from dropping a son off at the Burbank airport. The train pushed her sedan about 2,500 feet before the train came to a stop. Burbank police who responded to the car found Osborn deceased on scene, said Burbank Police Department Lt. David Gabriel.

Josh Kleinbaum When Thomas Ormiston brought his BMW 320i into Walter Asatourian's car repair shop in Glendale, the two often discussed Ormiston's railroad life. Asatourian would ask the Metrolink conductor about the possibility of a train crash, especially after reading about wrecks in the newspaper. Asatourian couldn't ask his friend about the most recent train crash. Instead, he took time off work Monday to pay his respects. "He says, 'Accidents will happen,'" Asatourian said.

An attorney representing the man convicted of causing the 2005 Metrolink train derailment in Glendale that killed 11 people argued in court Tuesday that her client only intended to kill himself when he parked his gasoline-drenched SUV on the tracks. His attorney, Tracy Dressner, told a panel of judges for the California 2nd District Court of Appeal that the facts presented during the prosecution of Juan Manuel Alvarez in Los Angeles County Superior Court didn't support his conviction of first-degree murder and arson.

Jackson Bell Teresa Nance could hardly stomach news reports of Wednesday's fatal train crash. Nance saw her mother, Liz Hill, leave her house early that morning to catch the southbound train to Union Station, but she had no idea if she was dead, injured or OK. Authorities announced late Wednesday that Hill was the 11th confirmed dead after the crash. Nance called her mother's cellphone all morning and checked area hospitals. Nance even stopped by the Glendale Police station, where she and others waited anxiously for updates on their loved ones.

Rima Shah With each dish ordered at Pat and Oscar's Wednesday, patrons will be helping others. The restaurant, famed for its breadsticks and ribs, will donate 30% of its sales Wednesday to aid the victims of the Jan. 26 Metrolink train wreck. Funds will go to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Victims Witness Assistance Fund, which helps victims of crimes who may not be reimbursed by other sources, said Kay Abadee, spokeswoman for Pat and Oscar's.

LOS ANGELES — Emotionally charged testimony by co-workers and family members of victims who died in a 2005 Metrolink train crash marked the first day of the penalty phase against Juan Manuel Alvarez on Monday, highlighted by tearful jurors and loud weeping from those sitting in the packed courtroom. Alvarez, 29, was convicted of 11 counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson on June 26 for his role in the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink derailment that injured 184 crew members and passengers.

Jacqui Brown The life-saving efforts by firefighters after Wednesday's deadly train crash is all in a day's work. Sorting through the wreckage, aiding victims and staying focused is what gets firefighters through, said Capt. Bill Bailey of Fire Station 22 in Glendale, the first unit to respond to the scene. "The call came over the radio as a train derailment with possible injuries," Bailey said. "We had no idea what we were going to see and we didn't know that there were three trains involved."

It is time for the officials to take seriously their responsibility and stop tussling over the rail crossing issue in Glendale (“Officials tussle over rail crossing,” June 3). It looks like nobody really cares about human life and public safety since officials keep holding meetings yielding no results. I understand that the crossing's closure has a lot of environmental and legal challenges, but keeping it open will lead to another deadly incident like the 2005 Glendale train crash.

LOS ANGELES ? U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta stood at the site of the deadly January 2005 Glendale Metrolink train derailment Thursday and unveiled plans for a new passenger car design that he claims would make commuter trains safer for passengers. The newly developed crash-energy management system could potentially double the speed at which passengers can survive a train crash ? from 15 miles per hour to at least 36 miles per hour ? through technology inside passenger cars that would essentially make them "gigantic shock absorbers," Mineta said.

Jacqui Brown Blood donors lined up to do their part Thursday at Glendale Memorial Hospital, a day after the deadly Metrolink train crash. Undaunted by the hours of waiting inside the hospital's auditorium or in a half-block-long line outside, it was apparent the community wanted to pull together after a crisis. Hospital staff members supplied the donors with refreshments and snacks while they waited to give blood. Local Burger King employees at one point appeared to also help feed the hungry donors.

An attorney representing the man convicted of causing the 2005 Metrolink train derailment in Glendale that killed 11 people argued in court Tuesday that her client only intended to kill himself when he parked his gasoline-drenched SUV on the tracks. His attorney, Tracy Dressner, told a panel of judges for the California 2nd District Court of Appeal that the facts presented during the prosecution of Juan Manuel Alvarez in Los Angeles County Superior Court didn't support his conviction of first-degree murder and arson.

A day after the somber national remembrance of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, survivors of one of the worst railroad disasters in U.S. history are holding a memorial of their own. On Sept. 12, 2008, Metrolink 111 was scheduled to arrive in Simi Valley at 4:23 p.m. But the train crashed in Chatsworth, just a few miles from the Simi Valley station. Twenty-five people died, including the engineer who was later determined to be texting when he failed to stop at a warning light.

A group of state lawmakers has flown to China to see if California can learn anything from that country about building a high-speed rail system. But the lesson may be about what not to do: the state senators are arriving in a country mourning an accident last month in which two Chinese bullet trains collided, killing at least 39 people and injuring 200. The delegation includes Democrats Kevin De Leon of Los Angeles, Ron Calderon of Montebello and...

It is time for the officials to take seriously their responsibility and stop tussling over the rail crossing issue in Glendale (“Officials tussle over rail crossing,” June 3). It looks like nobody really cares about human life and public safety since officials keep holding meetings yielding no results. I understand that the crossing's closure has a lot of environmental and legal challenges, but keeping it open will lead to another deadly incident like the 2005 Glendale train crash.

California's Congressional delegation today called on the French company that employed the Metrolink engineer involved in the deadly Chatsworth train derailment of 2008 to go beyond the $200-million victim compensation cap. Veolia Environnement S.A., which supplied Metrolink with train engineers, set up a compensation fund with the transit agency to pay claims related to the crash that killed 25 people and injured scores more, including residents...

GLENDALE — Glendale businessman Richard Slavett survived the deadly Sept. 12 Metrolink crash in Chatsworth and continues to ride the train because, he said, it is the safest form of transportation. He still gets shaky and nervous when he rides the train from Glendale to his home in Thousand Oaks because of the crash, which occurred Sept. 12 when Metrolink 111 collided with a southbound Union Pacific freighter, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others, including him. “Traveling in a train is the safest form of transportation there is,” Slavett told the Kiwanis Club of Glendale during a meeting Friday at the Elks Club.

GLENDALE — Metrolink 111 engineer and La Crescenta resident Robert Sanchez sent a text message from his cellphone 22 seconds before his passenger train collided with a southbound freighter Sept. 12, killing 25 and injuring 135 others, federal investigators said Wednesday. Sanchez sent the text message at 4:22 p.m., according to the National Transportation Safety Board, the lead agency investigating the crash. While federal investigators continued to verify the precise timing and correlation of the events, the findings appeared to prove that Sanchez was conscious at the time of the crash and that he may have been distracted from seeing a red-light signal that, if observed, would have prevented the worst crash in Metrolink’s history, officials said.

BURBANK — Alan Buckley wasn’t just a co-worker. He was like a father. “When I started, I was just a young kid who was an underling for Alan . . . He called me his second son,” said Ari Omessi, who reminisced Monday about his friend who died in last week’s Metrolink train collision in Chatsworth. The two worked together in the city’s Public Works Department’s field services plant. “He was an excellent friend who was always there for all of us and one of the most hardworking guys,” Omessi said.

LOS ANGELES — Emotionally charged testimony by co-workers and family members of victims who died in a 2005 Metrolink train crash marked the first day of the penalty phase against Juan Manuel Alvarez on Monday, highlighted by tearful jurors and loud weeping from those sitting in the packed courtroom. Alvarez, 29, was convicted of 11 counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson on June 26 for his role in the Jan. 26, 2005, Metrolink derailment that injured 184 crew members and passengers.

GLENDALE — The California Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday that federal regulations governing the “push” mode of train operation preempt the practice from being used against Metrolink in a class-action lawsuit that stems from a January 2005 train crash. The appellate court ruled that because the push-pull system of operation is lawful under regulations of the Federal Railroad Administration, the body that governs railroad equipment and operations, the plaintiffs can’t argue in state court that the practice was negligent, said Joseph Mascovich, one of Metrolink’s attorneys.