Last Updated on October 30, 2018 by CCAR Staff
Two Metrolink passengers and a conductor suffered minor injuries after the train struck a stalled bus in San Bernardino Monday night, Metrolink authorities said on Tuesday.
“There were two passengers who complained of back pain, while the train’s conductor indicated he had pain in his back and one of his wrists,” Scott Johnson, a Metrolink spokesman, said Tuesday.
All three were taken to the hospital as a precaution Monday night.
Service in the San Bernardino area was closed for several hours Monday night after the train, traveling from Rialto to San Bernardino, hit the broken-down Omnitrans bus.
Tuesday’s service was not affected.
Wendy Williams, a spokeswoman for Omnitrans, said the bus experienced mechanical difficulties while on its way back to Omnitrans headquarters in San Bernardino.
Then the bus – occupied only by the driver – was going north on Rancho Avenue in San Bernardino when Williams said it again had mechanical difficulties, this time right in the path of an oncoming train.
“The driver tried to restart the bus, but was unsuccessful,” Williams said. “He realized a train was coming, exited the vehicle and waved at the train to try to get it to slow down.”
Johnson said the train’s engineer applied the emergency brake, but the train was still traveling 40 mph when it hit the bus. The train remained on the tracks after the crash.
The bus driver wasn’t injured.
Metrolink suspended service between Fontana and San Bernardino after the crash, Johnson said, with service continuing after the cleanup, at 9:11 p.m.
“We’re very fortunate nobody was on board our bus,” Williams said. “We have a bus that’s (now) not in great shape, but that’s a small thing in comparison.”
Williams said Omnitrans buses delivered Metrolink passengers to their final destination at the San Bernardino station.
