Qualla: 2005 Glendale Train Crash

2005 Glendale Train Crash: Introduction

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alexis Doine, CC0. Juan Manuel Alvarez had slashed his wrists and stabbed himself in the chest. He parked his Jeep Cherokee on the railroad tracks near Chevy Chase Drive, somewhere in the industrial gray of Glendale, and waited for the 6:03 a.m. southbound Metrolink to finish what he couldn't. Then he changed his mind. He tried to drive off the tracks. The rain-soaked gravel and slick rails held his SUV in place like a trap. He ran. The train didn't stop.

Image: Alexis Doine | CC0

2005 Glendale Train Crash: A Chain Reaction at Dawn

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alexis Doine, CC0. The southbound Ventura County Line train number 100 struck the Jeep at 6:03 a.m. on January 26, 2005, pushing it along the rails toward the Los Feliz Boulevard undercrossing. Automotive debris jammed into a track switch and lodged under the train's lead car, lifting it from the r...

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2005 Glendale Train Crash: First Responders from Costco

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nserrano, CC BY-SA 3.0. The first people to reach the wreckage weren't professional rescuers. Employees at the adjacent Costco store heard the crash, called 911, and climbed the perimeter fence to help. They pulled survivors from twisted metal and used fire extinguishers on the flames until firefighters...

Image: Nserrano | CC BY-SA 3.0

2005 Glendale Train Crash: An 1873 Law for Train Robbers

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alexis Doine, CC0. Prosecutors reached back into California's Old West history to charge Alvarez. A law from 1873, originally written to prosecute train robbers who blew up tracks, made train wrecking resulting in death a capital offense. The defense argued that Alvarez never intended to hurt anyon...

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2005 Glendale Train Crash: The Push-Pull Question

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alexis Doine, CC0. The tragedy reignited debate about Metrolink's train configuration. Many commuter trains, including Metrolink's, operate in 'push-pull' mode: sometimes the locomotive leads, sometimes it pushes from behind while a lighter cab car leads. Critics argued that if the heavy locomotive...

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2005 Glendale Train Crash: The Copycat

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alexis Doine, CC0. The day after the Glendale crash, police in Irvine, California, found another suicidal man who had parked his car on Metrolink tracks. When officers arrived, he drove away and was later arrested. The incident underscored a grim reality about rail suicides: they can inspire imitat...

Image: Alexis Doine | CC0