BART Cop Smashes Drunk Dude's Head Through Glass
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UPDATE: SF Appeal reports that Muni Spokesperson Judson True has confirmed the total amount of injuries is 47 -- 4 critical, 23 serious, and 20 minor. Light rail service is not expected to be restored for several hours.
UPDATE II: NBC Bay Area reports about an eye-witness account in which the L operator might have passed out prior to the collision. Another witness reported seeing the driver making gestures as if to say he could not stop the train. The operator was the most critically injured during the accident, and authorities have not been able to ascertain what happened.
At about 3 p.m., an L Taraval rear-ended a K Ingleside train at West Portal Station, shattering the windshield front window of the L train. CBS5 reports that about 60 passengers were injured, but fire officials told Streetsblog that there were 44 total injuries, all of which have left the scene. None of the injuries are described as life-threatening as of yet.
Light rail service on the K, L, and M lines is reportedly still halted in both directions. Buses are currently providing service between West Portal and Castro Station and West Portal and the western part of the city. A police officer told CNN that one of the train conductors miscalculated a turn, which is still being investigated.
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I was standing directly across from the trains when they wrecked. The train PLOWED into the back of the other train. It was massive and horrific. Much healing energy to the injured.
http://2girls1queen.tumblr.com/post/144413391/today-aimee-witnessed-an-l-taraval-train-crashing
How could this happen if this were ATC? If the driver was asleep or fainted, then it must have been an ATC failure, if the operator was ducking, it must have been brake failure.
Muni, replace or rehab these streetcars NOW!
You've never been to West Portal, have you?
This is the point where the ATC ends, so we shouldn't jump to any conclusions about whether it was an ATC failure. It appears to me that the K was already in manual mode as it was preparing to exit the tunnel.
Best wish to all involved for a full recovery. Yikes. I just rode to West Portal a couple of nights ago.
i wonder if those injured have insurance to deal with this.. or if the city will cover it O_o
The city will pay either way. Either the individuals will sue the city or their insurance companies will. Or both. This will be an expensive incident and it will be interesting to see if this affects the decision to self insure vs. purchase insurance for Muni.
Ahh ... this most likely explains why MUNI metro seemed to be dragging yesterday afternoon and evening with trains sitting at stations for much longer than normal before taking off to the next station.
The Examiner has an editorial on MUNI's need for catostrophic loss insurance in today's paper ... one of the few times the editorial isn't written about national issues by clowns with tunnel vision ... http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/Examiner-Editorial-MTA-needs-protection-from-ongoing-lawsuits-51056437.html
Of course, the cost for that insurance probably just ticked up quite a bit as we've had the second MUNI metro train collision within the past year or so.
@wwt it's not uncommon for trains to be taken out of auto mode in order to enter the station. Chances are neither train was in auto mode, and it was operator error (whether or not there was some sort of medical emergency is anyone's guess).
Off topic a bit (but the SFMTA.com web site isn't accessible to quickly answer) ... can I still use my MUNI fast pass to travel via BART within SF City limits or did that privilege get scrapped with the increased fees on July 1?
yes you can still use muni inside city limits.
Must be a slow news day as this at the top of the Drudgereport--though they have a picture of a BART train.
Drudge has been reduced to a daily photo of Hilary Clinton with her mouth wide open, a Photoshopped image of Obama with a joint in his hand and something with Ahmajenadad doing the boogeyman face.
Goofy photos; journalism at its finest.