Earlier this week, a Metro Light Rail Train and a shuttle bus for the University of Southern California crashed into each other in downtown Los Angeles. The accident, which occurred on Tuesday, resulted in approximately 55 people being injured. The collision happened in the late morning hours on Exposition Boulevard, around the USC campus and the Natural History Museum. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene of the accident fairly quickly. Recent reports have come out saying that at least two of the 55 people with reported injuries were hospitalized with serious injuries from the incident. Another 16 people were transported to nearby hospitals needing additional treatment but holding strong in fair conditions. The rest of the people who sustained injuries were treated at the scene.
The train that was in the collision ran on the E Line from East Los Angeles to downtown Santa Monica.
A spokesperson from LA Metro said that the accident occurred as the bus crossed into the E Line track. The train line runs mostly along streets of the city with some of the road crossings not having any gates. When the bus collided with the train, there were only two people on the bus that could hold up to 40 passengers. The two people were the bus driver and one passenger. They were the two who sustained serious injuries due to the way in which they were struck.
Witnesses to the accident said that the front of the bus appeared to be thoroughly damaged.
One witness, a 19-year-old college student who was going to transfer onto the E Line train, could see the accident from her train platform. She was interviewed and gave a statement in which she described the scene. She said, “The bus definitely got crunched on its front end. The train did not look too damaged.” According to her and others, the bus hit the first car of the train.
The train had over 150 passengers on board at the time of the accident. Since the bus only had two people in it, the other 53 injured people came from the train. The LAPD have opened a formal investigation into the accident and at this time, the Metro system is running on a reduced schedule.
