WASHINGTON
Hazy sunshine illuminated the suburban landscape as Eric Forbes settled into the seat of his Friday afternoon train.
It was Sept. 12, 2008, 4:22 p.m. Forbes, 56, an administrator at Cal State Northridge, was headed home to be there in time for his son’s first school dance. Relaxing, he watched out the window as the train rolled north from the Chatsworth station then banked to the left, heading for the narrow tunnel under the Santa Susana Pass. The curve allowed Forbes to see down the track. Motion caught his eye.
“I saw this train coming at us,” he recalls. A thought flashed through his mind: “There’s only one track there.”