Runaway train

last updated 8 January 2015

Los Angeles

Thirteen people were injured this week when railroad officials sent a runaway freight train smashing into several houses in Commerce, Calif. Eleven cars loaded with lumber flipped after traveling 30 miles at up to 70 mph. The train had rolled free at a switching yard, then gathered momentum as it coasted downhill. Dispatchers diverted the train to derail it before it careened into downtown Los Angeles. “We didn’t know it was going to crash into houses, though,” a Union Pacific railroad spokesman said. Residents demanded to know why they weren’t warned. “We’re really, really, really angry,” said Juan Diaz, 40. “My kids were playing in the yard.”