WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers BACK ON TRACK—Commuters wait for the 8:39 a.m. train at the Simi Valley Metrolink station Wednesday morning as rail services resume for the first time since the Sept. 12 crash. Ridership was visibly down, but officials say they expect most passengers will return.

Every day for the past three years, Glenn Storey rode Metrolink 111 home to Simi from his job at Cal State Northridge, always taking a seat in the front car next to his riding buddy, Donna Remata.

But last Friday, when the train collided with a freight locomotive in Chatsworth, he was not sitting across from Remata, knee-to-knee in conversation— he had requested that day off from work.

 

"When I discovered that it was my train, it was surreal," the 41yearold said. "I was immediately concerned for the people that I knew ride that train."

Watching coverage of the crash on TV, Storey realized that if he had been on the train, he wouldn't have made it.

"When I saw the first car tilted up, I could see where the seat was that I usually sat in," he said. "They were nonexistent."

His friend, Remata, 49, did not survive the crash.

Knowing he would no longer see many of the faces familiar on his daily commute made it that much more difficult to get back on the train Wednesday, when Metrolink returned to full service.

"It was very somber when I got on in Northridge," Storey said after arriving at the Simi station. "People that I saw every single day—I didn't know their names, but it is really eerie not to see them get off the train today."

Despite the tragedy of Friday's crash, Storey said he will continue to ride the train, in the same seat as always.

Though he described Wednesday's train as a "ghost town," Storey expects that most people will keep riding, especially those who've been doing it for as long as he has.

"It's a tragic accident, but it's an excellent way to commute," he said. "My wife says, 'Why don't you move cars?' But what are the odds now?"

Other riders feel the same way.

"I think that was a one-time event," said Randy Higgins, 50, of Pasadena. "It happened, but it's not more likely to happen just because it happened once."

Higgins said he takes the train about every two weeks to visit friends in Simi. Though he was not afraid to get back on the train, it was hard for him to hold back the tears when recalling Friday's event.

"It's not just 25 people. It was thousands of people that were affected by this," he said. "All the pain spreads throughout the community."

Councilmember Barbra Williamson said it will take a while for Simi to get past the heartbreak of losing so many but that residents will eventually get back on trains.

"I think the residents of Simi Valley will band together, and I think we saw that in the church service Sunday night," Williamson said. "We will rally together. We will overcome this."

Since pioneer days, Simi's history has been indelibly tied to the railroad, and in a modern-day world of high gas prices and long commutes, the tracks that cut through town are a daily part of life for many residents.

Because of the closeness of the crash, both geographically and personally, Supervisor Peter Foy said the emotions of Sept. 12 will linger.

"You hear about plane crashes; you hear about car accidents," he said. "The difference here is that you have all these people that are tied to Simi, to the whole area."

As information from the crash investigation is released and funeral services take place in the days to come, the community's pain and anger will be forefront in residents' minds, Foy said.

Still, officials and riders are confident that Simi will find a way to move on.

"We all know that we're going to die someday, but when a family member is violently and suddenly killed, that turns people's lives upside down," Mayor Paul Miller said. "But I think people understand that their loved ones that died wouldn't want them to stop living."

Williamson agreed.

"We're a country that moves, and the cities of Simi Valley, Moorpark and Thousand Oaks are not any different," she said.

Finding comfort through prayer services like the one held Sunday night at Grace Brethren Church is the first step in the healing process, Higgins said, a process that will help riders get back on the train.

"I think it's the family relationships, faith and our brotherhood and sisterhood together that restores a community," Higgins said.

Storey experienced this community camaraderie during his first trip back on the Metrolink.

"When I got off the train in Northridge, someone told me, 'I'm glad you're here,'" Storey said. "I think that that's the humanity in all this—the concern that people have for one another."