Gretchen Hoffman
Monday's deadly MetroLink accident wasn't the first to hit the
tracks that stretch through Glendale and Burbank.
There have been more than 35 collisions between trains and cars or
trucks in the two cities since 1976, according to the Federal
Railroad Administration's Office of Safety Analysis.
At least nine of them took place at or near the crossing where
truck driver Jacek W. Wysocki was killed in the Monday accident at
Buena Vista Street and San Fernando Boulevard.
More than 10 other train-and-truck collisions happened at the
Doran Street crossing in Glendale.
Past accidents include:
* August 2001: A train struck the back of tractor-trailer exiting
the crossing at Buena Vista Street in Burbank. No injuries were
reported.
* November 2000: A woman whose car was too far over the
restraining line at the Buena Vista intersection in Burbank got her
front bumper knocked off by a passing train.
* January 2000: A tractor-trailer truck being escorted by
California Highway Patrol officers was broadsided by a commuter train
near Grandview Avenue in Glendale. The train engineer and four
passengers suffered minor injuries.
* October 1998: A train hit a car at Doran Street in Glendale. No
one was injured.
* February 1997: A train struck an abandoned car at Buena Vista
Street in Burbank. No injuries were reported.
* January 1997: A train hit a tractor-trailer at Bekins Way in
Glendale. No one was injured.
* August 1996: A train collided with a tractor-trailer filled
with carpet and Styrofoam, shredding the truck and its contents near
Bekins Way in Glendale. No one was injured.
* September 1995: A train hit a bus at Doran Street in Glendale.
No injuries were reported.
* April 1995: A train hit a truck at Doran Street in Glendale. No
injuries were reported.
