2 Killed as Car Goes Through Traffic Signal and Collides With Blue Line Train

Two people were killed Thursday night when their car collided with a Blue Line commuter train in Long Beach, authorities said.

RTD spokesman Jim Smart said the accident occurred about 7 p.m. when the car failed to stop at a traffic signal and was struck by the train as it approached a station near 1st Street and Pine Avenue.

Smart said the victims, whose identities were not immediately available, were an elderly man and woman. The male driver of the car was pronounced dead at St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

Authorities said the train had slowed to 10 m.p.h. in preparation for a stop at the Transit Mall Station, near the southern terminus of the commuter line. The impact crushed the car against the station platform, RTD officials said.