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Pedestrian Struck and Killed by Metrolink Train
A Metrolink train (Photo by garyseven via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
A pedestrian was hit by a Metrolink train and killed in Pacoima this morning.The crash happened at Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road and was reported to California Highway Patrol at 5:55 a.m., City News Service reported.
UPDATED 11:18 a.m.: It's looking as though the incident was a pedestrian violation, a spokesman from LAPD said.
The man who was hit was middle-aged, and the incident took place at about 2 a.m., the Los Angeles Times reports. He was hit in the pedestrian walkway by a Union Pacific freight train headed to Portland, Ore.
Union Pacific spokesman Aaron Hunt said crews did not see the man before the train hit him. Both LAPD and Union Pacific are investigating the incident.
UPDATED 1:46 p.m.: LAPD is still investigating and says the incident occurred around 3 a.m., KTLA reports.
LAPD says eight people were killed in crashes involving trains last year in Los Angeles, and that this year they have upped traffic enforcement around railroad crossings following a spat of deadly train collisions.
Additionally, City News Service reports another Metrolink accident involving a pedestrian took place Friday night. A woman in her 40s was struck and killed by a Metrolink train in Anaheim in an apparent suicide after witnesses saw the woman lay down on the tracks near the 800 block of East Ball Road Friday at about 8 p.m., Anaheim police said.
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