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4 Dead in Metrolink-Freight Train Derailment*
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Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
Metrolink Train #111, traveling from Union Station to Moorpark on the Ventura Line, collided with a freight train near Heather Lee Lane and the 118 Freeway in Chatsworth just before 4:30 this afternoon. The collision is being described as "head on" and both trains appeared to be on the same track.
Rescue personnel are on the scene extracting trapped passengers; over 20 people are reported as injured, with 3-5 individuals requiring extrication. Two Four* people are confirmed as dead in the incident. The impact of the collision caused 7 of the freight cars to derail, and one car of the Metrolink train to overturn.
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Metrolink's website is currently inaccessible; a spokesperson told KCBS in an on-air interview that they are in rescue mode now and have not yet shifted to investigation mode.
5:26 p.m. A 3rd fatality has been confirmed. All area hospitals are in full trauma mode, and the LAPD has issued a city-wide tactical alert.
5:40 p.m. Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Terrell told KABC in a live on-air interview that this train typically carries 350-400 passengers. She stressed that due to the fluidity of information that immediately follows an incident of this magnitude that it is not wise to speculate on what happened, or, in this case, how these two trains were on the same track. Something "clearly went wrong," however, and it appears that the impact caused the locomotive of the Metrolink train to be pushed into the first passenger car. The accident has not impacted travel on the rest of the system, although obviously little to no service is available right now on the Ventura Line.
6:00 p.m. A 4th fatality has been reported.
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