(The following story by Jackson Bell of the Glendale News-Press and Leader appeared on the Los Angeles Times website on February 1.)
SOUTHWEST GLENDALE, Calif. — If Brad Buttrick hadn’t been running five minutes late Wednesday, he would have been on one of the trains involved in the fatal three-train wreck.
Monday morning he was back to his routine commute from his home in Lancaster to work in Glendale. The rail line reopened its Antelope Valley and Ventura County to full service on Monday.
“I’ve been riding the trains for three years, and this is my fourth accident,” he said while boarding a train at the Glendale station. “Why do I keep riding? Let me put it this way: There is a higher chance that I’ll be killed on the freeways than on the Metrolink.”
Buttrick was one of many Metrolink regulars who considered Wednesday morning’s crash that killed 11 and left nearly 200 injured a “freak accident,” and said their trust in the rail line has not waned.
A train heading toward downtown Los Angeles Wednesday rammed into a Grand Jeep Cherokee parked on the tracks, derailed and smashed into another Metrolink train. Juan Manuel Alvarez, who police say drove his SUV onto the tracks in a suicide attempt and then jumped out at the last minute, faces murder charges.
Kim Johnson has been riding the Metrolink to her job in Burbank since December, when she moved to Santa Clarita. She finds the train ride a relaxing alternative to battling traffic on the freeways. She can rest, read a book or put her makeup on if she’s running late to work.
“It’s not like this is something that happens on a daily basis,” she said. “It’s just some crazy guy; it has nothing to do with the train.”
Johnson was one of the several passengers who used a five-mile bus detour provided by the rail line to get around the damage tracks last week.
While there is always the possibility of copycat crashes, said Gary Mountjoy, of Littlerock, he still feels that Metrolink is the safest way to get to Glendale for his doctor appointments.
But Monday’s ride to Antelope Valley was somber nonetheless.
“It’s a little sad,” Mountjoy said. “I can’t help thinking about all the people who were hurt or killed on the train. Today’s ride is definitely a sad moment for me.”
Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell rode an early train from Antelope Valley and was surprised to see so many people on the train who were in last week’s disaster.
“It was so wonderful to speak to them, and was encouraging to know they still believe in the service,” Tyrrell said. “But it was a somber ride. They felt like they have lost members of their family. Many of the people on the train were regulars that had become friends with. It was a traumatic experience for them.”
The Antelope Valley line averages about 6,800 passengers per weekday, and the Ventura County line about 4,200 passengers per weekday, according to the Metrolink website.