Driver dies when Metrolink train hits car in Corona
The unidentified woman drove around crossing gates onto the tracks, officials say.
Less than an hour after a Metrolink commuter train and freight train collided in the Chatsworth area, another Metrolink train crashed into a car in Corona, killing the driver of the vehicle, police said.
The Corona crash occurred at 5:11 p.m. in the 200 block of Sheridan Street near downtown as the 600-passenger train traveled east toward Riverside.
The driver of a car heading south on Sheridan drove around the lowered arms of the crossing gate onto the train tracks, Corona Police Lt. Brent Coleman said.
Coleman said there was no way the engineer could have seen the car because a commercial building blocked the view. The seven-car train was 300 yards from its next stop, Main Street.
The driver, an unidentified woman in her 40s traveling alone, died at the scene.
An investigation of the crash continues, but it appears the driver tried to beat the train, Coleman said.
A passenger on the train was taken to Corona Regional Medical Center for anxiety. No one else was injured, authorities said.
"By no means should you try to beat the train," Coleman said. "You will not win."
esmeralda.bermudez@ latimes.com
