L.A. light rail train runs into car; 21 injured

LOS ANGELES – A light rail train slammed into a car at a crossing in front of the University of Southern California on Saturday, seriously injuring the driver and the train’s operator. Nineteen passengers on the train suffered lesser injuries.

The Metro Expo Line train was heading east toward downtown shortly before 11 a.m. when authorities said it appeared the car’s 21-year-old driver didn’t see it and tried to make a left turn across the tracks from a major thoroughfare.

The car, a silver Hyundai, was all but demolished. The first two of the train’s four cars slightly derailed, but they remained upright.

“We had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate the driver, and we transported him to a local hospital. He was in extremely critical condition,” fire Capt. Daniel Curry said at the scene.

The train’s operator was taken to the hospital in serious condition, but his condition has improved, Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo said.

Nineteen passengers on the train suffered lesser injuries, mainly cuts and bruises. “They were all able to walk off the train,” Curry said.

The cause of the crash was under investigation. But Metro supervisor Diljiat Sandhu said it appeared that the car’s driver was attempting to turn left at a grade crossing and didn’t see the approaching train. What was left of the vehicle was still partly wedged onto the tracks Saturday afternoon.

The crash occurred in an area where Metro trains travel down the middle of Los Angeles’ Exposition Boulevard, with cars traveling east or west on both sides.