That’s kind of an amazing scene. I’d expect a lot of injuries from being tossed around in those cars.
While this is the same line as the collision in Chatsworth a few years ago that killed so many, and that was also Metrolink, it’s just a coincidence — there’s no relationship between the two events. That one was caused by a driver who was texting and missed a traffic signal, resulting in a collision with a freight train.
Rice Avenue is actually a pretty major thoroughfare. If you’re coming down 101 from Santa Barbara, and want to take the coast highway through Malibu into LA, it’s the most direct route to cut over to the coast (you can’t hug the coast through Ventura and Oxnard, because Point Mugu Naval Air Station is in the way). So this will probably disrupt traffic somewhat. Also, it looks as though the track itself separate, so until they can repair it (and probably replace what looks like old, outdated ties with new ones), it will disrupt all rail traffic (it’s a line shared by both freight, and passenger traffic, with both Amtrac and the Metrolink commuter trains).
Yikes. Rice is just barely the edge of town, I’m surprised if they were doing 79mph there.
From the accordion style layout of the wrecked cars it was in a “pusher” configuration, with the engine behind the passenger cars.
It’s better to hit something in a tractor configuration, but that’d require another engine left at one end, or installation of a turntable. Either of which costs $$ and time.
Yes, they typically push coming into town. Those are new cars, designed to be more crash resistant, with crush distance.
Yeah, Rice is a big road, but there are alternative cross-over roads there, anywhere past Oxnard. Shouldn’t be a problem. We used to just follow the coast past Mugu, but you’re probably right that it’s better to pass Oxnard first.