Authories identify railroad employee killed by train

Authorities Saturday publicly identified the Union Pacific railroad employee who was killed when the company pickup he was in was struck by a Metrolink train just east of the San Gabriel River.

The truck was apparently sitting sideways on the tracks about 9:25 a.m. March 20 when eastbound Metrolink train 354, speeding down a long straightaway section of track, smashed into it and pushed it about 300 yards, authorities said.

Roberto Ramirez, 56, of Visalia, was pronounced dead at the scene, coroner's investigator Brian Elias said. Visalia is a small city near Yosemite, 190 miles north of Los Angeles.

His hometown newspaper, the Visalia Times-Delta, said in an obituary that Ramirez had worked for UP for 30 years, and was buried there March 30.

The truck appeared to have been stopped sideways one of three sets of parallel tracks near where they pass under the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway in unincorporated Bassett, east of El Monte, witnesses said.

The UP utility truck was equipped with flanged metal wheels that could be lowered onto railroad tracks to allow it to move on rails. But photos showed that the truck was broadsided by the train, and was not hit from the front or rear as it would have been had it been travelling on the tracks.

The cause has not been released by the Los Angeles County sheriff's office, which is handling the incident as a traffic crash.