San Jose: Two people dead after light-rail train, car collide

Police say railway safety arms were down and working

By JOSEPH GEHA | jgeha@bayareanewsgroup.com and MARK GOMEZ | mgomez@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: July 8, 2018 at 2:37 pm | UPDATED: July 9, 2018 at 10:04 am

Two men were killed Sunday afternoon when a car drove around railway crossing arms and crashed into a light-rail train in San Jose, according to police.

The collision happened near Lincoln and Auzerais avenues around 12:34 p.m., along the northbound tracks, according to Brandi Childress, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, or VTA.

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San Jose police said the car, a gold Buick Regal, was traveling southbound on Lincoln Avenue and approaching the VTA train crossing on the 500 block of Lincoln Avenue south of Auzerais Avenue. The VTA railway crossing arms were down and functioning, but the man behind the wheel of the Buick drove around the crossing arms and was hit by the train, police said.

The driver and adult male passenger in the Buick were pronounced deceased at the scene, marking the city’s 24th and 25th traffic-related fatalities of 2018. Monday morning, the Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office were still withholding the names of the men.
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Joseph Geha Joseph Geha is a multimedia journalist covering Fremont, Newark, and Union City for the Bay Area News Group, and is based at The Argus. His prior work has been seen in multiple Bay Area news outlets, including SF Weekly, as well as on KQED and KLIV radio. He is a graduate of California State University, East Bay (Hayward), and is a Fremont native. He is a lifelong Oakland Athletics fan.

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Mark Gomez Mark Gomez has worked for the Mercury News since 1992, including the past ten years as a reporter on the breaking news/public safety team. He is a South Bay native and graduate of San Jose State University.

Follow Mark Gomez @markmgomez