Coroner Identifies Train Victim

PACOIMA — A coroner’s spokesman Thursday identified a man killed when his car was struck by a Metrolink commuter train Wednesday afternoon.

The man, Jorge Castaneda Gutierrez, 45, of Los Angeles, was apparently trying to drive around a lowered guard gate near San Fernando Road and Van Nuys Boulevard at 6:40 p.m. as a train approached.

Gutierrez’s car became stuck on the tracks and he was unable to get out before the train smashed into his car, authorities said. Metrolink officials said none of the 140 passengers aboard the train were injured.

All told, 32 pedestrians and motorists have died in train-related accidents since Metrolink began operating in October 1992. Another 16 deaths have been ruled suicides.