Teen killed by Metrolink train was straight A student

Friends today identified the girl struck and killed by a Metrolink train Tuesday as Alana Kerr, a bright sophomore at Norte Vista High School in Riverside who volunteered at an animal shelter.
The Riverside County coroner’s office still has not officially identified the victim, though her relatives have been notified, according to the coroner’s website.
Tony and Judy Collora said her son, Jack, his friend, Andrew, and Alana, Andrew’s former girlfriend, carpooled together to school, where they are in the International Baccalaureate program for advanced college-bound students.
“She was sweet, she was smart, she was nice,” Judy Collora said in a telephone interview this morning. “She’s such a smart girl, I can’t believe she would walk in front of the train.”

UPDATE

Friends mourn teen killed by train

The Colloras learned about Alana’s death about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. They then went to a 24-hour store and bought purple flowers, which they laid around 1 a.m. near the railroad tracks on Buchanan Street in Riverside where Alana was killed. They also left a photo of Alana that they use as a screensaver on their home computer. On it, they inscribed, “Alana – May God’s love guide you home and comfort your family and friends. We’ll miss you! The Colloras.”
“We had to do something,” Judy Collora said. “We had to put those flowers out there to show respect.”
The photo shows Alana dressed in a Halloween costume in 2009 that reflects her love of the Disney “Nightmare Before Christmas” movies and the character Jack Skellington, a spooky skull. Alana liked to wear Jack Skellington-themed T-shirts, pins and fashion accessories.
Collora said that her son texted her that some of Alana’s classmates are wearing Jack Skellington pins today.
Tony Collora said his family and Alana went to Disneyland several times together.
Witnesses told police that the girl waited for an eastbound freight train to pass on tracks crossing Buchanan Street near Magnolia Avenue and then, despite the crossing gate being down and the lights continuing to flash, started across, not seeing a westbound Metrolink train on a parallel track.
The incident shut down two tracks and portions of Magnolia and Buchanan while authorities investigated the collision.

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Terry Pierson/The Press-Enterprise

Emergency personnel look for belongings of a female teenager who was killed Tuesday afternoon when she crossed the tracks after a freight train and was hit by Metrolink train coming from the other direction.

Five Metrolink trains waited at down-line stations for the tracks to reopen, said Sherita Coffelt, a spokeswoman for the commuter rail service. About 45 passengers on the train that hit the girl were taken by bus to their destinations, she said.
The death echoes one that happened in April 2009, when Arlington High School student Samuel Sung-Jae Shin, 14, was killed when he was hit by an eastbound Metrolink train at the Jackson Street crossing in Riverside on his way to school.
That death prompted the city to install signs at rail crossings warning people of multiple tracks with trains coming from both directions. The signs are posted at the Buchanan Street crossing.
Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson said during a break at a City Council meeting Tuesday night that pedestrian warning signs can't stop people from going around the gates if they are determined to do so.
"Our hearts go out to the family. It's very tragic," Hudson said. "We're going to continue to do everything we can to improve safety."