UTU member Paul Schmidt, a 23-year-old Union Pacific (UP) conductor, was killed late yesterday when a freight train struck an empty grain train in northwest Iowa, while a collision today involving a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) freight train and a MetroLink commuter train in Fullerton, Cal., injured at least 15 people, according to reports.

Schmidt was a member of UTU Local 329 in Boone, Iowa.

The Iowa collision, involving two UP freight trains northeast of Sioux City, also took the life of a van driver who was parked near the tracks and waiting to shuttle crew members from one of the trains, which was stopped.

Mark Davis, a UP spokesman, said five locomotives and 30 cars derailed between the two trains involved in the accident.

The grain train apparently was parked on the main tracks when the southbound freight train hit it at the junction with a side track. A fire broke out, but was extinguished.

"We're investigating why the freight train didn't go on to the side track," said Davis said, who wasn’t sure if the tracks where the accident occurred are switched automatically or by hand.

Meanwhile, today in Fullerton, Calif., a MetroLink commuter train with about 65 passengers struck a freight train, injuring at least 15 people.

The BNSF freight train and MetroLink train "sideswiped each other, resulting in some fire," MetroLink spokesman Peter Hidalgo told reporters.

The MetroLink engine and several freight cars were overturned, but passenger cars remained upright. Though some overturned freight cars caught fire the flames were quickly extinguished.

According to reports, the MetroLink train left Los Angeles about 7:45 a.m. on a run to Oceanside in San Diego County. The train was relatively uncrowded because most commuters were heading toward Los Angeles at that hour. The accident happened near the Fullerton train depot.

The cause of the collision wasn't immediately known, Hidalgo said.

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