Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson said he thought it was only a matter of time before someone was hurt, although likely for a different reason than what happened Monday.
He said he was worried about the number of at-grade rail crossings along the train’s route, and that because the high-speed passenger train was being put on a little-used freight line instead of a new one, a lot of safety features that he thought should be in place were grandfathered out.
“The principal risk we identified was actually the number of crossings and the lack of familiarity people had in the area with trains,” he said. “We thought a train-vehicle collision was virtually inevitable.”
He said that if the line had been built from scratch, there likely would have been more tunnels and overpasses built to protect people at crossings.
He also objected to the new line on monetary grounds, saying that for the number of people who use the high-speed passenger service, using taxpayer money for it was not justified.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.