Metrolink Train

A 14-year-old student was struck and killed by a Metrolink train Wednesday morning as he walked to Arlington High School in Riverside, police said. Samuel Sung Jae Shin was heading south on Jackson Street at 7:44 a.m. when he came to a railroad crossing with the arms down and bells ringing, authorities said. The teen let a westbound train pass and began crossing the tracks when an eastbound train struck and killed him instantly.

More than three years after the deadly Metrolink crash in Chatsworth, the commuter railroad is forging ahead with the most sophisticated collision avoidance system in the country despite efforts in Congress to relax requirements to install the safety improvement nationwide. Metrolink already has made substantial progress developing its $201-million positive train control system, which uses an array of electronic gear to monitor and, if necessary, take control of trains to prevent collisions and derailments.

A 15-year-old boy carrying a suicide note in his backpack was killed Wednesday morning in Covina when he stood in the path of a Metrolink train, authorities said. Train number 311 was traveling to Los Angeles from San Bernardino at 53 mph when it struck the boy, a student at Charter Oak High School, said Covina police Sgt. John Zumwalt. Witnesses said the teenager held his ground as the train approached shortly before 8 a.m.

Heads up for those thinking about hopping on a train this weekend to go Christmas shopping in Orange and San Diego counties. Metrolink and Amtrak are canceling some rail service this weekend because construction crews will be installing a second main track and rail bridges along the L.A.-San Diego-San Luis Obispo rail corridor. Metrolink will cancel service on its Orange County and Inland Empire lines on Saturday and Sunday. It's also canceling trains 644 and 645 on Friday.

A Metrolink train struck and killed a person walking on the tracks Tuesday morning in Northridge, forcing a temporary closure of the tracks. The unidentified victim, whose gender and age were unknown, was hit by the train at 7:15 a.m. after apparently trespassing onto the tracks near the 8900 block of Corbin Avenue, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Humphrey said the victim did not leave a suicide note, and investigators were trying to determine why the person was walking on the tracks.

As investigators struggled through the day to make sense of the carnage on the railroad tracks in Mission Viejo, they considered the possibilities: a group of friends recovering from a night of heavy drinking, teenagers from a nearby park with a reputation as a midnight party spot, a suicide pact. But in the end, Orange County Sheriff's Department investigators said it appears a young man and teenage girl simply fell asleep on the tracks early Thursday before a Los Angeles-bound Metrolink train killed them, scattering body parts for hundreds of feet.

As investigators struggled through the day to make sense of the carnage on the railroad tracks in Mission Viejo, they considered the possibilities: a group of friends recovering from a night of heavy drinking, teenagers from a nearby park with a reputation as a midnight party spot, a suicide pact. But in the end, Orange County Sheriff's Department investigators said it appears a young man and teenage girl simply fell asleep on the tracks early Thursday before a Los Angeles-bound Metrolink train killed them, scattering body parts for hundreds of feet.

Trying to shed a record of deadly accidents, Southern California's Metrolink system will take a leap forward on safety this week when it unveils the nation's first commuter train cars designed to better protect riders and crews with crash-absorbing, collapsible impact zones. Akin to the crushable bumpers added to automobiles in the 1970s, the 117 high-tech cars, costing a total of $230 million, are the product of years of federal research and a fast-tracked development push by the region's rail service after a horrific accident five years ago in Glendale.

Trying to shed a record of deadly accidents, Southern California's Metrolink system will take a leap forward on safety this week when it unveils the nation's first commuter train cars designed to better protect riders and crews with crash-absorbing, collapsible impact zones. Akin to the crushable bumpers added to automobiles in the 1970s, the 117 high-tech cars, costing a total of $230 million, are the product of years of federal research and a fast-tracked development push by the region's rail service after a horrific accident five years ago in Glendale.

A Union Pacific maintenance worker who was killed in a collision with a Metrolink train has been identified as Roberto Ramirez, 56, of Visalia. Ramirez died of multiple traumatic injuries when the pickup truck he had been driving was struck by a Metrolink commuter train east of El Monte on March 20, said Lt. Brian Elias of the Los Angeles County coroner's office. The coroner's office considers the death an accident. Metrolink officials had earlier said there was no evidence that the employee deliberately placed himself in the train's path.

Faced with falling ridership, deepening budget woes and increased expenses for safety reforms, officials at Southern California's commuter rail service are considering raising fares for the second time in less than six months. The five-county Metrolink agency board is scheduled to decide whether to hike ticket prices for tens of thousands of daily passengers by as much as 6% at a meeting Friday. The potential January increase, on the heels of a 3% increase that took effect Aug. 1, is needed to help make up a revenue shortfall of several million dollars in the current year's budget.

Though Metrolink has made many safety improvements, a year after the devastating Chatsworth crash, it is still far from completing three major recommendations from a panel of experts, officials reported Friday to the commuter rail's governing board. The public agency has not undertaken a thorough assessment of its management organization or completed a strategic plan, and its board of directors has not gone though a self-assessment of its performance, said Linda Bollinger, facilitator for the peer review panel set up in the wake of the Chatsworth crash that killed 25 and injured 135 one year ago. "Frankly, a lot of the one-shots that are the easy things -- filling positions -- have been done," said Peter Cannito, retired president of Metro-North Railroad in New York, who co-heads the panel.

Officials unveiled a commemorative plaque Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles dedicated to those who lost their lives in Metrolink train accidents. Metrolink Board Chairman Keith Millhouse said the plaque also honors those affected by train fatalities, including friends, loved ones and first responders. A large group of law enforcement and Metrolink officials, along with Red Cross workers and commuters, gathered in the east portal of Union Station as Millhouse removed a black cloth to reveal the large bronze plaque depicting a track nearing a tree-lined bend.

As the anniversary of the Sept. 12 Chatsworth train disaster approaches, officials with Southern California's sprawling commuter rail service are facing a vexing array of technical, financial and potential legal challenges as they struggle to deliver on pledges of trailblazing safety reforms. A burst of energy to remake the region's Metrolink train operation was unleashed by the deadliest rail collision in modern California history, a watershed event that killed 25, injured 130 and prompted landmark federal mandates to modernize the nation's rail safety systems.