BREAKING NEWS: Metrolink hit tail end of freight train

I just spoke with Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway spokeswoman Lena Kent:

The two trains collided in an area of single track just west of the Metrolink station in Rialto. The westbound Burlington Northern-Santa Fe freight train was pulling onto a siding when the eastbound Metrolink train hit the tail end of the freight train, Kent said.

“We were cleared to go into the siding,” Kent said. “It had almost cleared the mainline when it was struck.”

Metrolink owns that section of track and oversees the operation of trains on it, according to an agency map of the Metrolink rail system.

The BNSF freight train, which was headed from Barstow to Rialto, was being pulled by four locomotives and had 102 freight cars with two more locomotives at the end of the train. The Metrolink train hit the 96th car in the train, a flat car carrying iron, Kent said. She said the 96th through 102nd cars sustained damage but that it didn’t appear to be major.

None of the BNSF crew members suffered any injuries, Kent said. None of the freight train’s cars derailed.

-- Steve Hymon