Metrolink Train Slams Into Truck on Track in Riverside

A Los Angeles-bound commuter train slammed into a truck early Wednesday in Riverside, leaving the driver hospitalized and slowing Metrolink service, officials said.

The Toyota pickup, which had stopped on the tracks, became wedged under the front of Metrolink train No. 405 at 6:25 a.m. The vehicle was pushed more than 2,000 feet before the train slowed to a stop, said Steven Frasher, spokesman for the Riverside Police Department.

The train struck the driver’s side of the vehicle at the Jurupa Avenue crossing.

The 19-year-old Riverside motorist, who was in intensive care at Riverside Community Hospital, was not identified by authorities.

None of the 98 passengers and two crew members aboard the train was injured.

Riders were transferred to a later train that bypassed the crash on a nearby track, said Jim Ellingson, manager of operational practices for Union Pacific, which owns that stretch of track.

Commuters on three Los Angeles-bound trains were delayed about an hour, said Denise Tyrrell, spokeswoman for Metrolink. Ellingson estimated that 10 Union Pacific trains were backed up during the 3 1/2 -hour cleanup.

No witnesses could be found who could explain how the truck came to block the tracks, Frasher said.

It is unclear if the driver maneuvered around the lowered crossing arms or was stopped in the train’s path before the arms went down, Frasher said.

Local officials have sought to improve safety at the 27 street-level railroad crossings in Riverside as more freight and passengers travel daily through the region, said Riverside Assistant City Manager Michael J. Beck.

Nearly two dozen people have been killed at crossings in Riverside County since 1994, almost a third of those at Jurupa Avenue, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration.

“It’s a huge safety question,� Beck said of the city’s crossings. Plans to build a $22-million underpass at the site with local, state and federal funds are underway, Beck said.

An estimated 100 trains pass through Riverside daily, with as many as 200 projected in the next 20 years, said Aaron Hake, staff analyst for the Riverside County Transportation Commission.