Originally Posted by MikeB_CE

This trailer only had 155 one gallon drums of strawberries, not a lot of mass. Also, it appears to hit pretty squarly in the middle of the light trailer, lucky for everyone in and around the accident.

This train had an engine at the front, it wasn't being pushed, it was being pulled.

The problem with the Metrolink crash is that they only have one engine on the train, on the north end. So its a regular passenger car on the front with a small cab for the engineer controls when they travel south.

When the first train car hits something like a vehicle, it is a lot easier for the train to derail, because the train car doesn't weigh nearly as much as a train engine, nor does it have the big "cow pushers".

This is a great example of how having an engine in the front can better protect the train and its passengers. The Amtrak engine did come separated from the cars but did not derail in this video.

In the Metrolink crash, the first train derailed, and then sideswiped a passing Metrolink train coming in the opposite direction, and also plowed into a parked train.

If Metrolink put engines at the front of all their trains, they would increase the safety for everyone.