Caltrain says fatal crash not likely

A rail accident similar to the one that took 11 lives and injured nearly 200 in southern California on Wednesday is possible on the Caltrain line, but unlikely, Caltrain officials said.

Caltrain does not plan to make any immediate changes to its operation in the wake of the crash, but will wait for a federal investigation to determine the causes of the accident.

In an attempt to commit suicide, a 25-year old man parked his SUV on the Metrolink tracks in Glendale. A southbound train struck the SUV and slid off the tracks into a parked freight train and then hit a northbound train.

It was the worst train accident in the United States since 1999.

"What happened in Southern California was really a very unusual situation and not something that could be easily replicated," said Jayme Maltbie Kunz, a Caltrain spokeswoman.

But Caltrain does share similar train configurations with Metrolink that some transit experts said may have contributed to the derailment. There have also been numerous train vs. car collisions on the Caltrain tracks in recent years, although none have caused a derailment, Maltbie Kunz said.

Some transit experts said a contributing factor to the Metrolink accident may have been the fact that the train was being pushed by the engine, not pulled. It meant a lighter passenger rail car bore the brunt of the crash, not a heavier engine which the experts believe may have had an easier time punching through the SUV. Other transit experts disagreed with the assessment.

The "push-pull" configuration is used on Caltrain and on railroads around the nation because it allows trains to operate more quickly and efficiently. Instead of turning a train around when it reaches the end of the line or attaching another locomotive, the train can simply be pushed back up the tracks.

Caltrain averages about three collisions with cars every year, Maltbie Kunz said. One in 1999 caused minor injuries when a Caltrain struck a Coca-Cola truck and cans of Coke hit passengers.

There are also 48 railroad crossings along the 77-mile line that Caltrain would like to eliminate. The last collision between a train and a car occurred in October, when a man committed suicide by driving in front of a Caltrain at Linden Avenue in South San Francisco.

Caltrain has five crossing-elimination projects in the works in San Bruno and South San Francisco, including Linden Avenue. They are slated to break ground in 2006. But the process is slow, because of the tremendous expense of grade crossings and the community approval needed.

Maltbie Kunz said there is some good news on the horizon: the $9 billion high-speed rail bond that will go before voters in 2006 would allocate $3 billion for eliminating grade crossings and other projects on the Caltrain line.