The 2005 Glendale train crash occurred on January 26, 2005, at 6:03 a.m. PST, when a Metrolink commuter train collided with a sport utility vehicle that had been parked on the tracks by a suicidal man in an industrial area north of downtown Los Angeles, California, causing the deaths of eleven people and injuring 177. Background In the early morning rush hour period, northbound train #901 (leaving Los Angeles) normally carries between thirty and fifty passengers; the southbound #100 train (approaching Los Angeles) normally carries between 200 and 250 passengers. The freight train involved in the accident was "tied down" (parked) on an auxiliary track known as "The Slide," running parallel along the west side of the main tracks, led by Union Pacific EMD SD70M locomotive number 4323, waiting its turn to deliver track ballast to repair tracks on the former Southern Pacific Railroad's Coast Line which had previously been washed out by major January 2005 rainstorms. Crash On January 26, 2005, at 6:03 a.m. PST, southbound Metrolink commuter train #100 collided with a sport utility vehicle that had been abandoned on the tracks immediately south of the Chevy Chase Drive grade crossing and near a Costco retail store on the Glendale-Los Angeles boundary, in an industrial area north of downtown Los Angeles. The train jackknifed and struck trains on either side of it—one a stationary Union Pacific freight train, and the other a northbound Metrolink train (#901) traveling in the opposite direction. The chain-reaction collisions resulted in the deaths of eleven people. Among the first responders to the accident were employees of the Costco store adjacent to the accident site, who placed calls to 9-1-1 and climbed the perimeter fence to aid the victims, pulling out survivors and using fire extinguishers until firefighters arrived. About 300 firefighters, helicopters and cadaver dogs were brought to the crash site in order to help locate individuals trapped. Juan Manuel Álvarez, who had left his Jeep Cherokee Sport vehicle parked on the tracks, was arrested and charged with eleven counts of murder with "special circumstances." Authorities and Álvarez's legal defense claimed he was planning to commit suicide, but changed his mind at the last minute. Álvarez was convicted in June 2008 of the eleven counts plus one count of arson, and though prosecutors sought a death sentence, was instead sentenced in August 2008 to eleven consecutive life sentences in prison with no possibility