10th anniversary of Los Angeles rail disaster to be observed

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Observances will mark the 10th anniversary of a disastrous head-on collision of a commuter train and a freight train in Los Angeles.

Memorials are planned Wednesday at downtown’s Union Station and in the Chatsworth area of the western San Fernando Valley where a Metrolink passenger train and a Union Pacific freight crashed on Sept. 12, 2008.

Twenty-five people were killed and more than 100 others were injured after the Metrolink train went through a red signal. Investigators believe the train’s engineer, who was killed, was sending text messages at the time.

The Union Station event will include a ringing of the bell that was aboard Metrolink 111 and an exhibit of safety improvements since then that include technology known as positive train control and energy-absorbing rail cars.