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With ridership on Metrolink's Antelope Valley line increasing each year, transit advocates are calling for greater investment to turn the commuter rail system into a regional rail network. Paul Dyson and Bart Reed envision a system carrying AV residents to entertainment in Los Angeles at night and on the weekends, taking residents to LAX and offering midday service for those working nonstandard hours. All it would take is a few million dollars, they told the Antelope Valley Board of Trade's transportation committee Friday morning. "One million dollars will get you Sunday service, additional midday and some night service; $2 million...

LOS ANGELES Los Angeles police have set up a special command center following a series of deadly explosions in London today. Police dispatcher Anthony Rivers says officials are meeting to discuss whether to step up security locally. He says he doesn't know whether officials will upgrade the city's security alert level at this point.

GLENDALE -- Metrolink has sued the man whose aborted suicide attempt is blamed for last week's deadly train derailment, a strategy that experts said might be a way to fend off lawsuits from victims and strengthen its legal position. The lawsuit, filed in Burbank Superior Court two days after the collision, claimed negligence, carelessness and recklessness by Juan Manual Alvarez in parking his SUV on the train tracks and causing 11 deaths and injuries to about 180. "It's a standard filing that we make whenever we have an incident where we've suffered damage to our property we believe as a...

The capital murder charges filed Thursday against a driver accused of causing a fatal Los Angeles-area train wreck are a rare and perhaps unprecedented use of a century-old California law. The law, passed in 1905, makes it a capital crime to derail a train and cause death. It is the basis of the "special circumstances'' -- the factors that make a crime eligible for the death penalty -- in the charges filed against Juan Manuel Alvarez by Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley. Two court analysts said the charges appear to be legally sound but may be difficult to...

GLENDALE --The 25-year-old man accused of causing the chain-reaction Metrolink derailment that killed 11 passengers and injured 180 others was charged early today with multiple counts of murder. Juan Manuel Alvarez, of Compton, was being held without bail at a hospital's jail ward, pending his arraignment this afternoon. Alvarez is accused of leaving his Jeep Grand Cherokee on a railroad track after apparently changing his mind about committing suicide. Relatives said he was despondent over marital problems. ''He's not going to engage my sympathy because he was despondent. His despondency doesn't move me,'' District Attorney Steve Cooley told The Associated...

Alvarez's estranged wife said he threatened her and her family and threatened to abduct their 3-year-old son, although he never physically assaulted her, according to a request for a temporary restraining order that was granted Dec. 14, The Associated Press reported. "He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members," Carmelita Alvarez said. "He is planning on selling his vehicle to buy a gun and threatened to use it. He is using drugs and has been in and out of rehab twice." [SNIP] Alvarez, a U.S. citizen, watched as the train barreled into his SUV shortly...

Commuter train derails in Glendale Associated Press GLENDALE, Calif. - A Metrolink commuter train derailed early Wednesday in this Los Angeles suburb, and firefighters were searching through the wreckage. Television reports showed smoke coming from twisted wreckage at the scene of the crash, where two separate trains could be seen derailed. The derailment in this Los Angeles suburb was near San Fernando Road and Chevy Chase Boulevard.

Higher fuel costs may be encouraging some commuters to opt for public transportation over a private commute. Metrolink, Southern California's regional commuter rail service, has experienced a 4% increase in ridership increase from September 2003 to September 2004, and a 7% increase in its average weekday passenger trips. In the Antelope Valley, Metrolink's ridership increased 11% over the same period, from 5,748 average weekday passenger trips, to 6,370. The increase came despite a 4% across-the-board fare increase that began in July. Sharon Gavin, a spokeswoman for Metrolink, said gasoline prices could be having an effect, but there is not data...

<p>ST. LOUIS — A small but loud group of protesters on Thursday crashed the party celebrating the 10th anniversary of the MetroLink light rail system, voicing unhappiness over the lack of minority-owned firms involved in expanding the system. Activist and Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton was among 20 or so protesters who walked through the event outside Union Station, where a few hundred people gathered for cake and to hear speeches from civic leaders. Meanwhile, protesters chanted and carried signs reading, "Economic Racism" and "No Justice, No Peace."</p>

Bomb Scare Shuts Down Train Tracks POSTED: 5:54 p.m. PDT June 13, 2003 UPDATED: 6:10 p.m. PDT June 13, 2003 BURBANK, Calif. -- A bomb scare along the Metrolink tracks in Burbank forced the closure of the tracks on Friday afternoon. Police believe someone may have placed dynamite sticks near the tracks. Train service into and from Burbank has been shutdown. The device, described as possible dynamite sticks wrapped together with wires, was reportedly found at approximately 3:30 Friday afternoon. The device was found about 75 feet south of the tracks near the intersection of Vanowen and Buena Vista. The...