Signal Eyed in Deadly Calif. Train Crash

April 23, 2002 -- A freight train that may have missed a signal collided with a Los Angeles commuter train at rush hour this morning, killing two and injuring more than 265 others.

The Metrolink commuter train was traveling through Placentia in Orange County when it apparently stopped, and a northbound freight train hit its front passenger car just after 8 a.m., derailing two cars and buckling another.

The Metrolink train No. 809 was heading south from West Corona station to Anaheim Canyon, when a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train struck it going about about 35 mph.

A 59-year-old man riding in the front car was killed, and a 48-year-old man died in the third car, officials said.

A government source close to the probe told ABCNEWS that early indications are the freight engineer may have run a signal, causing the fatal collision.

Officials said some 265 people suffered injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to broken bones. As many as 75 passengers were sent to local trauma centers and the rest were being treated at triage centers alongside the crash site.

About 300 passengers were on the train at the time of the accident, a Metrolink spokeswoman said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and Metrolink are investigating how the two trains wound up on the same track.

Metrolink officials were puzzled by the crash.

"Train dispatchers work very much like air traffic controllers; they have a screen in front of them where they can see train traffic for miles around — that's why this incident is such a puzzle, and why it will be under investigation," said Metrolink spokeswoman Sharon Gavin.

‘People Flying All Over the Place’

The impact of the crash bent the first car. Officials say the commuter train's driver saw the freight train and stopped the car, warning passengers just before impact. Onlookers screamed at the freight train to stop.

"I was on the phone with my wife, and I was just kind of kidding that 'I hope these trains are on different tracks,'" said Brian Char, a motorist who had stopped at a crossing gate waiting for the train to pass. "Just about the time I had said that, I noticed the Metrolink almost come to a stop if not at a stop, right at the intersection. The larger train just collided right into them."

"It was horrific," Char continued. "It was like, plates crashing, metal grinding, nails on a chalkboard type sound. It was pretty deafening."

Passengers who got out of the train recalled chaos and screams after the Metrolink slowed to stop and then was suddenly hit.

"We were wondering why we stopped," said one female passenger. "All of a sudden it [the freight train] just smacked right into the back of us. People were just flying all over the place. … People were falling all over and … it was crazy."

Second U.S. Train Crash in a Week

Today's collision was the second serious rail crash in the United States in less than a week. On Thursday, the Amtrak Auto Train derailed in central Florida, killing four people.

In addition, seven cars of a 103-car freight train havederailed today in Monroe, Michigan. Officials say four of the derailed cars carried sulfuric and neighbors were evacuated as a precaution.

The scene at Orange County resembled the Florida crash as volunteers raced to help passengers out of the train cars.

"I pulled over and assisted," said Dan Veenbaugh. "there were people jumping out of the windows and breaking the windows out so I pulled over and assisted in evacuating that first car. We had trouble getting the doors open at first so there were some people coming out of the windows."

One American Red Cross group was driving to a disaster drill at the time of the crash. Red Cross spokeswoman Rene Carmichael said the group aided people at the scene and were prepared to give them assistance over the next several days.

Metrolink carries more than 32,000 passengers a day across the region, and runs 128 trains per day. Its trains travel at 44 mph on average, weigh 450 tons and take one-third of a mile to stop, according to the commuter rail system.

Lena Kent, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, said the railroad owned and maintained the stretch of rail where the collision occurred. The BNSF runs 55 freight trains a day along the line, which connects Los Angeles and Chicago.

ABCNEWS' Jim Hickey, Brian Rooney and Lisa Stark, ABCNEWS, Los Angeles affiliate KABC, and ABCNEWS.com's Bryan Robinson contributed to this report.