Train Hits Big Rig; Two Are Hospitalized

Two people were hospitalized Monday after an Amtrak train struck a delivery truck that was stopped on the tracks in Chatsworth, authorities said.

The accident occurred shortly after 1 p.m. at Lassen Street and Canoga Avenue, when truck driver Andre Cordero of Fontana was trying to back his big rig into a parking lot to make a delivery. To accomplish the maneuver, Cordero had to drive his truck across the tracks and back up into the adjacent lot.

As he began to back up, Cordero said he saw the crossing lights go on and heard the whistle of the approaching train, so he decided to drive forward off the tracks. But the crossing arm became lodged between the truck and the trailer. As he rolled forward, he heard the wooden arm crack, which made Cordero think he had pulled forward enough to clear the tracks.

“All of a sudden, the train was there,” Cordero said. “I closed my eyes and it hit me.”

The crash pushed the trailer of Cordero’s rig into a motorcycle and a van that were stopped at the light, and the van was shoved backward into a pickup truck.

The motorcyclist was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center and was in serious condition, said Sgt. Mike Zaboski of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division. The driver of the pickup was taken to West Hills Hospital with minor injuries, he said.

“It looked like he was clear, but all of a sudden the train hit him,” said Jeff Tober of Belgium, who was driving the van, a rental. Tober and his wife were slightly injured and treated at the scene, Zaboski said.

Cordero said this is his worst accident in his 26 years as a trucker.

“I knew I was in trouble when I saw the train coming down on me,” he said. “I thought I was dead.”