Background
In the early morning rush hour period, northbound train #901 (leaving Los Angeles) normally carries between 30 and 50 passengers; the southbound #100 train (approaching Los Angeles) normally carries between 200 and 250 people.
The freight train involved in the accident was "tied down" (parked) on an auxiliary track known as "The Slide," running parallel along the west side of the main tracks, waiting its turn to deliver track ballast to repair tracks on the former Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Line (so called because it runs along California's coast from Ventura County through Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo) that had been washed out by major January 2005 rainstorms.
The next day, police intervened in a similar "copycat" incident in Irvine, California where a suicidal man parked his car on Metrolink tracks. The man drove away from the tracks when police arrived and was later arrested, possibly preventing another accident.
Regular Metrolink passenger service was restored through the accident scene the following Monday, January 31.
Read more about this topic: 2005 Glendale Train Crash
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