Metrolink

A pedestrian trying to race a Metrolink train to a crossing Friday was critically injured, and his arm and leg severed, when the train slammed into him at 65 mph, Metrolink officials said. The unidentified man, estimated to be in his mid- to late-30s, was taken to Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley with massive internal and head injuries, police said. "He is very lucky to be alive," said Heidi Ansell, spokeswoman for Pacifica, three hours after the accident.

Metrolink Access: Proposed stop will cost about $5 million.

Despite resistance from neighbors, a 10-year-old proposal for a Metrolink stop moved a step ahead this week. City Manager Kevin O'Rourke asked the City Council whether to leave the project site along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway at Dale Street in limbo, or begin required studies. The first phase of work would cost the city more than $800,000. "We have a shortage of funds to proceed," O'Rourke said. "Is this a project you want us to continue to evolve and grow?"

The City Council on Tuesday appropriated $246,000 toward the construction of a $1-million Intermodal Transit Center at the Sylmar-San Fernando Metrolink Station, which would accommodate trains, buses, future smart shuttles, taxicabs and bicycles. "This will make the existing station a true transit hub," said Annette Castro, chief deputy for Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the northeast Valley. Eventually, nine bus lines will originate at the hub, she added.

In what could be a signal that a daily commuter train is only a few years away on the route, Metrolink's first Rose Parade express made a trial run Thursday from Claremont to Arcadia, and seats are selling fast for the New Year's Day rail ride. As the 130-ton locomotive and three double-decker cars pulled into a temporary station in Arcadia on Thursday, where passengers on Jan.

Metrolink officials Saturday blamed a minor train derailment at Los Angeles' Union Station on the weakening of an aging section of track caused by the recent rains. "As the engine went over, it basically pushed the rails apart a little bit and the wheels went down on the ground," said Ed Pederson, Metrolink's manager of safety. The Friday derailment of the 7:35 p.m. four-car commuter train carrying 120 passengers to San Bernardino caused no injuries.

A Metrolink train departing from Los Angeles' Union Station for San Bernardino derailed at the end of the station platform Friday night, but all 120 people aboard escaped unharmed. Metrolink's manager of safety, Ed Pederson, said the crew of the 7:35 p.m. train was being interviewed and a thorough investigation would be undertaken in what he described as the commuter line's first derailment at the station.

Riding the rails, as opposed to battling the freeways, soon will become an option for some employees in northeast Anaheim. When the MetroLink train station opens on Aug. 5 in the Anaheim Canyon Business Center, an estimated 160 commuters--mainly from the Inland Empire--are expected to begin riding the trains on weekdays, according to Diana Kotler, transportation programs planner for Anaheim.

Michael Maxein doesn't need experts to tell him about the resurgence of rail transportation in Orange County. The Santa Ana man experiences it first-hand when two dozen freight and passenger trains a day lumber past his mobile home park, their safety horns unleashing shrill blasts designed to stop traffic--literally. "When I'm outside, I have to hold my ears," Maxein said. "The noise is incredible--you just can't take the decibel level of those horns. You try to get used to it, but you can't."