Post by Jason Saunders on Jul 19, 2009 8:13:21 GMT -8
cbs5.com/local/muni.crash.collision.2.1091623.html
San Francisco CBS
By Len Ramirez
Nearly 50 Hurt As 2 SF Muni Trains Collide
Nearly 50 people were injured, several seriously, in a collision between two San Francisco Municipal Railway light rail trains Saturday afternoon at the city's West Portal Station, officials said.
The station was shut down following the crash, snarling service on most Muni Metro train lines for about five hours.
The collision occured just before 3 p.m. when a fully loaded, westbound Metro line-L Taraval train slammed into the back of a packed Metro line-KT Ingleside/Third Street train that was stopped along the outbound platform at the station.
The impact of the rear-end crash tossed several passengers on both trains to the ground, witnesses said.
The front of the L car was totally smashed in, the car itself bent and its windshield shattered from the impact.
Firefighters began arriving within minutes and immediately set up a mobile triage center to isolate the most severely injured. A total of 48 people were injured, four of them severely, said Muni spokesman Judson True.
"This is probably one of the largest casualty incidents in recent years (in San Francisco)," said Pat Gardner, a deputy chief with the San Francisco Fire Department.
Gardner said 24 people suffered moderate injuries. He described another 20 people as "the walking wounded." All them were said to be in stable condition.
Fire and rescue crews treated more than a dozen victims on the trains and carried them off in stretchers to nearby ambulances. Many others were treated on the platform, some with bloodied and bandadged faces.
A Muni bus was also brought in to transport the walking wounded. The injured were taken to San Francisco General Hospital and some other local medical facilities.
"The most complicated part was making sure everyone is accounted for, and the people with the most serious injuries are taken care of and transported in a timely fashion," SFFD Lt. Ken Smith said.
Fire officials indicated about 40 rescue workers were at the scene, as well as 15 ambulances and seven fire engines.
There was no immediate word on what caused the crash and officials said they did not know the speed of the L-Taraval train at the time of the crash.
True said investigators would look at "mechanical and human issues" in a speedy probe aimed at getting to the bottom of the crash so that such an accident does not happen again.
"We take this incredibly seriously," he added.
Eyewitnesses said the westbound Taraval train barreled into the Ingleside train as it emerged from a tunnel connecting downtown San Francisco to the city's western neighborhoods.
But the witnesses also gave conflicting reports regarding the driver of the L-Taraval train just before the accident.
One witness described him as waving his arms as if he had no control of the vehicle, another said he was slumped over. True said the driver was among the most seriously injured.
Shin San, 15, said her sister, Celene, was on the L Taraval when it hit the Ingleside train - but was not injured and called her from her cell phone.
"She said she was on the L and heard a boom," she said. "She saw glass windows shattered and a guy got his ear cut."
"We thought a bomb went off," said Mike Burke, a San Francisco banker who lives near the crash site. He was walking past the station with his wife, Linda, after they went to the movies nearby.
"Lots of people (in the trains) were still sitting in their seats with their heads thrown back, stunned," Linda Burke said, adding that she saw people on the platform crying.
Dan Dudem, an unemployed mechanic and neighborhood resident, said he had just parked his motorcycle around the corner from the station when he heard the crash, and buildings in the vibrant West Portal shopping district shook.
"Everyone ran out of the stores to see what happened," he said. "I saw the front of the car crumpled."
Muni light rail service for the L, M and K lines -- which travel through the West Portal Station -- was halted until 8 p.m. due to the collision, according to the transit agency.
Buses provided substitute transportation between the West Portal and Castro stations, and West Portal Station and western destinations for the K/T, L and M lines, True said.
Saturday's Muni crash was at least the third major transit accident in the U.S. since May.
Nine people were killed and more than 70 injured June 22 when a Metro train slammed into another train stopped on the tracks in Washington, D.C. The cause has not been determined but investigators say equipment that is supposed to detect stopped trains failed periodically in the days leading up to the crash.
On May 8, more than 50 people were injured when a Boston subway trolley plowed into another train. Authorities say the operator, Aiden Quinn, 24, went through a red signal while typing a text message on his cell phone.
San Francisco CBS
By Len Ramirez
Nearly 50 Hurt As 2 SF Muni Trains Collide
Nearly 50 people were injured, several seriously, in a collision between two San Francisco Municipal Railway light rail trains Saturday afternoon at the city's West Portal Station, officials said.
The station was shut down following the crash, snarling service on most Muni Metro train lines for about five hours.
The collision occured just before 3 p.m. when a fully loaded, westbound Metro line-L Taraval train slammed into the back of a packed Metro line-KT Ingleside/Third Street train that was stopped along the outbound platform at the station.
The impact of the rear-end crash tossed several passengers on both trains to the ground, witnesses said.
The front of the L car was totally smashed in, the car itself bent and its windshield shattered from the impact.
Firefighters began arriving within minutes and immediately set up a mobile triage center to isolate the most severely injured. A total of 48 people were injured, four of them severely, said Muni spokesman Judson True.
"This is probably one of the largest casualty incidents in recent years (in San Francisco)," said Pat Gardner, a deputy chief with the San Francisco Fire Department.
Gardner said 24 people suffered moderate injuries. He described another 20 people as "the walking wounded." All them were said to be in stable condition.
Fire and rescue crews treated more than a dozen victims on the trains and carried them off in stretchers to nearby ambulances. Many others were treated on the platform, some with bloodied and bandadged faces.
A Muni bus was also brought in to transport the walking wounded. The injured were taken to San Francisco General Hospital and some other local medical facilities.
"The most complicated part was making sure everyone is accounted for, and the people with the most serious injuries are taken care of and transported in a timely fashion," SFFD Lt. Ken Smith said.
Fire officials indicated about 40 rescue workers were at the scene, as well as 15 ambulances and seven fire engines.
There was no immediate word on what caused the crash and officials said they did not know the speed of the L-Taraval train at the time of the crash.
True said investigators would look at "mechanical and human issues" in a speedy probe aimed at getting to the bottom of the crash so that such an accident does not happen again.
"We take this incredibly seriously," he added.
Eyewitnesses said the westbound Taraval train barreled into the Ingleside train as it emerged from a tunnel connecting downtown San Francisco to the city's western neighborhoods.
But the witnesses also gave conflicting reports regarding the driver of the L-Taraval train just before the accident.
One witness described him as waving his arms as if he had no control of the vehicle, another said he was slumped over. True said the driver was among the most seriously injured.
Shin San, 15, said her sister, Celene, was on the L Taraval when it hit the Ingleside train - but was not injured and called her from her cell phone.
"She said she was on the L and heard a boom," she said. "She saw glass windows shattered and a guy got his ear cut."
"We thought a bomb went off," said Mike Burke, a San Francisco banker who lives near the crash site. He was walking past the station with his wife, Linda, after they went to the movies nearby.
"Lots of people (in the trains) were still sitting in their seats with their heads thrown back, stunned," Linda Burke said, adding that she saw people on the platform crying.
Dan Dudem, an unemployed mechanic and neighborhood resident, said he had just parked his motorcycle around the corner from the station when he heard the crash, and buildings in the vibrant West Portal shopping district shook.
"Everyone ran out of the stores to see what happened," he said. "I saw the front of the car crumpled."
Muni light rail service for the L, M and K lines -- which travel through the West Portal Station -- was halted until 8 p.m. due to the collision, according to the transit agency.
Buses provided substitute transportation between the West Portal and Castro stations, and West Portal Station and western destinations for the K/T, L and M lines, True said.
Saturday's Muni crash was at least the third major transit accident in the U.S. since May.
Nine people were killed and more than 70 injured June 22 when a Metro train slammed into another train stopped on the tracks in Washington, D.C. The cause has not been determined but investigators say equipment that is supposed to detect stopped trains failed periodically in the days leading up to the crash.
On May 8, more than 50 people were injured when a Boston subway trolley plowed into another train. Authorities say the operator, Aiden Quinn, 24, went through a red signal while typing a text message on his cell phone.
