[15thRegionCrazy]

GLENDALE, California (CNN) -- A man accused of causing a deadly Southern California train crash has been charged with 11 counts of murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said.

The charges against Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, include a special circumstance that would make him eligible for the death penalty, but Cooley said a decision hasn't been made on whether to pursue capital punishment.

Alvarez is scheduled to appear Thursday afternoon in a Los Angeles court.

In addition to the 11 dead, nearly 200 people in the crash were hospitalized, Glendale Fire Department Chief Christopher Gray said.

Rescue officials continued to search Thursday through the wreckage for a missing passenger.

FBI and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were dispatched to the site.

On Wednesday, Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on railroad tracks in Glendale as a commuter train approached shortly after 6 a.m., police said.

Initially, Alvarez intended to commit suicide, police said, but he changed his mind. He exited his sport utility vehicle and watched as the Metrolink train hit it, derailed, ran into a northbound Metrolink commuter train and crashed into a parked Union Pacific train, police said.

Alvarez, whose last known address was in Compton, was taken into custody near the scene, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said Wednesday.

Before his arrested and placed on suicide watch, Alvarez was treated for superficial wounds -- cuts to his wrist and chest --that were self-inflicted and not caused by the train wreck, Adams said.

"I think he was intent at that time of taking his own life but changed his mind prior to the train actually striking his vehicle," Adams said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/27/train.d...index.html