PASADENA — A driver was hospitalized with serious injuries Friday after his car collided with a commuter train in Pasadena, authorities said.
The crash occurred about 1:10 p.m. on the tracks near Arroyo Parkway and Glenarm Street, Pasadena police Lt. Chris Russ said.
The cause of the crash remained under investigation, however it initially appeared that the railroad crossing arms and signals functioned properly.
“The car was traversing the intersection as the arms were either coming down or down,” Russ said.
According to some witness accounts, Russ said, the car struck the crossing arm just before the crash.
Two of the 100 or so people in the train complained of injuries but declined hospitalization, Metropolitan Transportation Authority David Sotero said.
The majority of people on the northbound train were mentally disabled passengers travelling with a group, Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
The driver of the Mitsubishi sedan that was struck by the train, a man in his 40s, was hospitalized with serious injuries, Derderian added.
The train pushed the car 50 to 60 feet before the conductor was able to stop it, Russ said.
Looking at the scene of the crash, Russ said the man was fortunate not to have suffered more serious injuries.
“It could have been a lot worse,” he said.
Train service between the Mission station in South Pasadena and the Fillmore station, just a few blocks north of the crash, was stopped for two hours as workers removed the overturned car from the railroad tracks and inspected the tracks for damage.
Passengers on the train were placed on a bus, which took them to the next station.
Sotero said the train sustained only minor damage in the crash, Sotero said.