Regular service resuming on Blue and Expo Lines after auto-train incident in DTLA

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UPDATE, 4:50 P.M. The train has been re-railed and tracks have cleared. Regular service resumes although there will be residual delays. 

A southbound Expo Line train and a car collided at 18th and Flower at approximately 2:33 p.m. The train derailed as a result of the accident but is still sitting upright on the tracks; see the photo below. Passengers were taken from the train.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is reporting that six patients were evaluated and two — a 21-year-old male on the train and a 55-year-old from the auto — were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Both Blue Line and Expo Line trains will share one track to get around the accident. It appears that major delays may spill into peak hours. The incident will be investigated. Early reports indicate that the auto may have tried to make a left turn in front of the oncoming train.

Photo by Jon Ross Alexander/Metro.

Photo by Jon Ross Alexander/Metro.

Categories: Service Alerts

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20 replies ›

  1. He asks you if you have been drinking tonight, and
    your response is, yes officer I’ve have. It is a major course locating the person who is responsible for the truck accident, and it
    might necessitate an investigation. Some lawyers are difficult and somewhat complicated but clients need to determine this early on to save precious time.

  2. You can’t expect everyone to follow every single rules, laws, and regulations. You know it’s against the law to dodge fares, but 1 in 5 aren’t paying for their ride. It’s illegal to drive a car while talking on a cell phone, but how many people do you see doing that everyday? You see people putting on make up while they drive the freeway. That’s how people are – they don’t care.

    LA needs to realize that people are generally stupid and will break the law no matter what laws there are, that the police cannot be everywhere and magically appear out of the blue. It’s not about growing up or acting like adult, it’s just human nature. The honor system and building rail at grade were both dumb ideas that weren’t thought out clearly. It was cheap to build at the time, but now it’s causing all sorts of problems.

  3. Noam Chomsky,

    Yes, because if we pass laws, people will obey them. How’s our gun control laws working? LOL

  4. I’ve noticed there are two freeway onramps at 18th and Flower. The trains always have to stop or slowdown here. Why not just close the Flower street onramp to streamline traffic here? Do we really need two at such a busy intersection?

  5. “Stop taxing me for rail service!”
    “Spend money on gates!”
    “Spend the upfront money to build underground subway systems!”
    “Build extremely expensive tunnels and bridges so cars don’t have to interact with rail!”

    How about we all just act like adults and take public transportation and/or obey the very clear and simple traffic laws that are in place to avoid collisions like these?

  6. Was the driver trying to make a left turn or merge into the lane the train was traveling in?

    • Hi Warren;

      The accident is being investigated. Preliminary info was that the car was trying to make left turn across the tracks into a driveway. Key word there is “preliminary.”

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source

  7. Everytime there is a delay there are significant costs involved. Poor planning causes so many problems. They need to make a law or something saying that no more trains will be built at grade and start grade separating existing lines so tracks aren’t shared with cars on the road.

  9. As long as people don’t know how to drive, these sort of accidents will happen.

    I doubt her insurance will cover all the property damages. She is now probably broke for life.

  11. See Metro, this is why you don’t waste taxes by building trains on street level and sharing the lanes with cars like the 1950s anymore. You can’t mix the idea of running things the way it used to be back in the 1950s in 21st century LA!

    “Oh but it used to be fine back then”

    Yeah, LA didn’t have a 10 million population and so many cars back then either!

    Take the cheap way out, pay the price later. When will you guys learn?

  12. I was on the train , if i would of tooken one more train stop i would of saw what happen

  13. lol i was on the train. idiot driver ended up wasting 2 hours of my (and all the other passengers) life.. not to mention threaten our lives

  14. Metro really needs to construct a bridge on and around Flower Street. I can imagine that this type of incidents occur after the Regional Connector is opened. By then, if a similar incident occurs, the both the Gold and Blue lines will come to a complete stop. It is not too late for Metro to build an aerial structure to solve this problem.

  15. That’s a problem in my opinion metro should look into putting gates at that intersection.

  16. Policing or ticketing for this needs to happen or putting up Railroad crossing gates this is one accident to many and I see it happen all the time since I come from Long beach action need to be taken so this doesn’t happen again there are so many risky people they all should get cited

  17. This is just to the right of my shop on Flower! There are no gates! My grandson heard the accident occur and we both ran outside and I called 911, along with several other people! He saw the driver from the vehicle helped out and watched her walk away.

  18. Ugh, looks like someone tried to beat the train, and lost. Are there gates at that intersection?

    • No gates. This is along the street-running segment of the Blue and Expo Lines along Flower Street. Trains follow traffic signals.

      Steve Hymon
      Editor, The Source