Thanks for the report, and more importantly, for getting involved, Chris.

On a weekend day, I'd often lounge at a small park next to the train tracks and watch a number of Metrolink trains rumble by in either direction. Kind of addicting waiting for them, actually.

Like the Metrolink derailment a few years ago where the guy who parked his SUV on the tracks to kill himself but chicken'd out at the last minute and ran away, leaving his vehicle to derail...two trains, was it? Anyway, this incident may revive the debate about the push-pull trains, if that's the correct term.

That is, the locomotive would pull the train when heading in one direction, but for the return trip, the locomotive would push the train from the rear. In yesterday's horrific accident, the locomotive was in front. I would image that the carnage would have been even greater had the oncoming freight train smashed straight into a passenger car rather than the Metrolink's locomotive.

Many people who ride commuter trains tend to sit in the same place day after day. They often become friends with other passengers who also tend to sit in the same area. Kind of a hard habit to break if you're already used to sitting in the first car, and your commuting buddies sit there, too. But that's a couple really bad Metrolink accidents in recent memory where sitting anywhere besides the first car would have probably saved your life.