INCLUDES CRASH AFTERMATH VIDEO | Looking at the smashed car after this outer East Portland wreck – unlikely as it seems – they say the driver survived …
After pulling in front of an oncoming TriMet MAX Blue Line train in the Hazelwood neighborhood, the car is T-Boned and flipped onto the tracks.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
Just why a silver Honda Accord’s driver pulled out in front of an oncoming TriMet MAX Blue Line train on Sunday afternoon, July 27, may never be known. But, the result was astonishing – and the driver of the car lived through the impact that crumpled his car.
At 2:59 p.m. Portland Police Bureau (PPB) East Precinct officers were dispatched to the intersection of East Burnside Street and 108th Avenue. They found that the Honda had landed on the westbound tracks; and that the end of the double-unit train stopped about 30 feet east of the car.
A wrecker pulls the smashed car off the tracks, and onto the street.
A witness said she was standing in her front yard, watering her plants, when she looked up and saw a Honda traveling westbound on East Burnside Street, and pulling into the left-hand turn lane at the intersection at 108th Avenue.
“Either the driver didn’t notice that the left-turn traffic signal was red – or didn’t care – and turned left into the intersection,” she told East Portland News.
Clearly, the Honda’s driver didn’t heed the eastbound TriMet MAX Light Rail train that was still picking up speed from its stop six blocks west.
Although the MAX operator tried to stop, the momentum caused it to plow into the side of the Honda.
TriMet workers point to the damaged pantograph and electrical system on top of the train.
Then, as the train and the T-Boned car continued east, the car struck the guywires of a steel I-Beam pole that holds the light rail’s overhead electric cables that power the trains.
Witnesses said that the guywires and the pole, on impact, catapulted the vehicle up and over the top of the train – breaking the catenary (the arm that slides along the top wire to transfer electricity to the train) and snapped it in half – before the Honda slammed back down on the tracks just north of the train as it flipped over.
“I don’t believe that description of what happened is entirely accurate,” later commented Public Information Officer Mark Miller to East Portland News.
Somehow, the sturdy pantograph that electrically connects the train to the overhead power line was severely damaged.
“No injuries were reported aboard MAX, and our operator was not hurt,” Miller added. “MAX Blue Line service was disrupted after the collision, because of the damage to the pantograph and overhead wire system.”
Watch, here, as the wrecked car is pulled off the tracks; and, as TriMet transit workers formulate a plan to get their MAX Blue Line trains running again:
A dozen or more TriMet workers checked the front of the train, looked at the pantograph, the overhead wires, and tracks, as they formulated a plan to make repairs.
It appeared that the train stayed on the tracks, and was not derailed.
The bend of this steel I-Beam pole is witness to the impact it experienced when the car, pushed along the tracks by the train, impacted it.
“Our initial investigation shows that a vehicle turned directly in front of an oncoming train – and that caused the collision,” Portland Police Public Information Manager Mike Benner told us. “One occupant in the vehicle was transported to the hospital, with what appear to be non-life-threatening injuries.”
Here’s a look at the damage caused to the front and the side of the train.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, shuttle buses provided service between the Gateway Transit Center and the East 162nd Ave MAX Station for riders, while the repairs were made.
When the repairs were completed shortly after midnight, the Blue MAX line finally resumed regular service.
© 2024 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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