Railroad Accidents

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.

California officials lack the authority to determine whether Metrolink was partly responsible for the deaths of 11 people in a commuter train crash in 2005, lawyers for the transit service argued Tuesday. Facing skeptical state judges in Los Angeles, Metrolink lawyers argued that federal railroad regulations ban most attempts by California to improve commuter rail safety. Only the federal government can do that, lawyers for Metrolink argued.

At least 66 people were killed and 247 were injured when a passenger train derailed early today and slammed into another train in eastern China, state-run media reported. Witnesses said a train traveling from Beijing to the coastal city of Qingdao hit another traveling from Yantai to Xuzhou about 4:40 a.m. in the city of Zibo, New China News Agency said. News photos showed the derailed train in a ditch, with rescuers removing passengers from one of several carriages that had fallen over.

A Compton man willfully caused a deadly commuter train wreck three years ago in an extreme, but apparently successful, attempt to regain the affections of his estranged wife, prosecutors said Monday. "He needed to do something big to get her attention," prosecutor Cathryn Brougham said during opening statements in the trial of Juan Manuel Alvarez, who on Jan. 26, 2005, parked his vehicle over railway tracks and fled minutes before it was hit by an oncoming Metrolink train.

Juan Manuel Alvarez exhibited bizarre and delusional behavior for at least five years before causing a deadly Metrolink crash three years ago, his wife testified Tuesday. Carmelita Alvarez said her husband -- who is on trial for murder -- was extremely possessive of her and often accused her of having affairs, even with her own nephew. He also tried to kill himself three times, she said during two days of testimony that began Monday. "I had to be in the middle of the bed facing him.

Despite a defendant's testimony that he was overcome with remorse for triggering a train wreck that killed 11 people three years ago, prosecutors Wednesday portrayed Juan Manuel Alvarez as a manipulative liar who often carried a weapon and sometimes threatened violence. Peppered by rapid-fire questions from Deputy District Atty. John Monaghan, Alvarez acknowledged that he would carry a knife -- sometimes a machete -- and at one time damaged his brother-in-law's car and paid $1,000 to fix it.

After nearly eight weeks of testimony, a jury Tuesday started deliberating the fate of a Compton man who left his vehicle on railroad tracks and caused a deadly Metrolink wreck three years ago. Juan Manuel Alvarez, 29, is charged with 11 counts of murder and one count each of arson and train-wrecking. He could face the death penalty if convicted. "Don't forget these 11 victims," Deputy Dist. Atty. Cathryn Brougham told the jury as she concluded her closing arguments Tuesday.

The family of Juan Manuel Alvarez, the former Compton laborer convicted of murdering 11 people when he caused a deadly train crash three years ago, says that although they expect Alvarez to be punished for his actions, he does not deserve to die. "If at any one point I really felt that he did this with any intent to hurt anybody, I wouldn't be here trying to defend him," said Beto Alvarez, 41, who raised his now 29-year-old cousin as a son. "He was not in his right state of mind.

Charles Peck had gone through some tough times in recent years, including a divorce, but things were looking up. Peck, 49, had fallen in love again, with longtime friend Andrea Katz of Westlake Village. In February, he asked Katz to be his wife. But there was a problem. Peck, the father of three grown children, lived in Salt Lake City, and Katz didn't want to get married until they were living in the same state. So, for six months, Peck looked for work in California.

Still in a daze from the crash, Donald Ashman walked over to the first body. Ashman knelt down and lifted a corner of a white blanket covering the body, placed his hand on the man's forehead and said the words he had said so many times before, almost always at a hospital: "May God Almighty have mercy upon thee, forgive thee thy sins and bring thee to everlasting life." The prayer took just a few seconds.