Metro Blue Line Deaths On Record Pace In 2012

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Transit officials have created a special task force to find out why there are so many accidents and suicides involving Blue Line trains.

The Blue Line — which carries 26 million riders from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles every year — had 22 accidents and six deaths so far this year, with four of those ruled as suicides.

Metro officials last month asked the the agency's inspector general to investigate an alignment problem where the Blue Line meets the new Expo Line in downtown Los Angeles that experts believe could pose a risk of derailment if left uncorrected.

In 1999, the Line earned the title of the deadliest rail transit route in California after 10 people were killed and 40 others injured in 50 accidents that year.

Commuters say despite installing cameras at street crossings to keep drivers racing through intersections, Metro has failed to take action to keep pedestrians and riders safe.