Oh yeah this guy is toast
Metra engineer Mike Smith. (RICH HEIN/SUN-TIMES)
Posted on 10/11/2005 4:20:06 AM PDT by freepatriot32
Between forkfuls of angel-hair pasta, Metra engineer Mike Smith calmly told his story Monday, detail by agonizing detail, of the ill-fated Rock Island line train that jumped the tracks under his control. At Nick and Tony's restaurant downtown, Smith talked to reporters for the first time, saying he was sorry that his passengers -- "the most precious cargo" -- suffered and died in the horrific crash.
But last month's derailment that killed two women and injured dozens of others was not his fault, he said.
"I can say I'm sorry even though I had nothing to do with it," said Smith, who insisted track signals gave him the all-clear -- a line of seven green lights -- to go up to 70 mph past 47th Street inbound to Chicago.
"If I would have done this or didn't do this. I can't say that. ... With clear signals come a clear conscience," he said.
Seeking vindication
Federal investigators have said preliminary evidence shows track signals appeared to be working properly when the crash happened on Sept. 17 just after 8:30 a.m.
That leaves Smith, whom Metra officials have removed from service without pay, hoping a final National Transportation Board decision on what caused the crash brings vindication.
Smith said he granted interviews so Metra riders knew his side of this tragic story. Folks shouldn't be afraid to take the train.
Engineers "don't wake up asking how many people can I kill ... how many trains can I wreck," Smith said. "We think about getting from point A to point B safely. ... A lot of lives are in our hands. ... We take that responsibility to the core."
Even though experts say "technology" says different, Smith says he had no warning that the No. 504 train he was driving was set to switch tracks.
At nearly 70 mph, he said, he's not sure if he even had time to hit the brakes before the train left the tracks.
"I was already on top of it, all I could do then was just brace. That's all I could do," Smith said. "I just rode it. I didn't say anything. My mind was just blank. I just rode it."
The train shook violently, kicking up dust and hitting the bridge. It "felt like it wanted to flip over," Smith said.
Fear didn't set in until the train was wreckage and the train was deathly still, Smith said.
"What I was seeing outside my broken rear-view mirror. I knew it was bad. I knew it," he said.
He got out of the lead car with only a scratch on his forearm, called for help and watched crew members and emergency workers help passengers in the second car.
"That's where it hit me, because that's where a lot of people were in desperate need of help," Smith said.
It was bloody, and Smith said he felt "absolutely numb."
"Hearing all that moaning and screaming and yelling. I just went back to that first coach and sat down," he said.
NTSB officials won't release details of what Smith told investigators during the hours of interviews the day after the crash. They confiscated the cellular phones he had that day, one personal and the other issued by Metra.
Smith said investigators asked him if he had been distracted, blinded by morning sunshine or coached to say the signals were green, giving him the all-clear.
His answer to those queries was "No."
"I'm saying one thing, technology is saying another," Smith said. "It gets to a point of who are you going to believe? Are you going to believe me? Or are you going to believe the technology?"
Called 'Batman' for devices on belt
Two of Smith's former co-workers at CSX -- where Smith spent five years as a conductor and engineer -- told the Sun-Times the suspended Metra engineer had been accused of being distracted by personal cell phone calls and amateur radio transmissions.
In fact, workers at CSX's Barr Yard in Riverdale dubbed him "Batman," referring to the several phones and scanners Smith carried on his belt.
On March 20, a former co-worker stopped a CSX train in protest of Smith using his ham radio scanner during a trip, sources said. The engineer demanded to be taken off the trip or have Smith replaced.
Smith, a registered amateur radio user, acknowledged that incident saying it was a personality conflict that was resolved by CSX officials.
Smith admitted to bringing cell phones and scanners on trains, which technically is a violation of both CSX and Metra rules. But he claims to have never used a personal phone or radio while driving a train.
"I don't talk when I operate a train," he said. "When a train stops am I on it? No doubt.
Oh yeah this guy is toast
Metra engineer Mike Smith. (RICH HEIN/SUN-TIMES)
Since the train had... stopped... I bet he was on one of his phones. Those conversations would have probably explained everything.
A green signal (a.k.a. clear) usually means that the rulebook speed limit for that section of track is allowed. If there are a number of signals for a particular track at one location, that usually is for an interlocking, where the combination of signal aspects indicate which direction. Typically a "green board" is a straight through routing. Note that I say typical, there are a lot of different signal systems in the US.
A yellow board (a.k.a approach aspect) typically is reduced speed, prepare to stop. Red is of course stop.
Depending on the road, there are also 2 signal combinations which define which speed limit applies.
As best I can tell, the track switch was set to take him to the alternate track, which would require that he slow down.
He is insisting that the lights were green, indicating he would stay on his side and could go full speed.
He derailed on the thrown switch.
I'm surprised they don't have a videocamera mounted to the front of every train to collect information. The digital cameras are cheap, and would help the investigators for most of the common crashes. Many police forces are putting them in the cars.
Excellent idea. Heck, they have them on NACAR racing cars. Could show track conditions and be especially valuable to establish whether gates were down when a vehicle crosses in front of the train.
It wouldn't surprise me a bit if they not only put video cameras on trains, but if they started putting them in airliner cockpits to supplement the cockpit voice recorders.
It does sound like this guy's toast, unless there was a mechanical fault with the signals and switch (not unheard of). I'm a ham radio op as well and like the hobby, but there's a time and place to put the radio down and concentrate.
}:-)4
I have known Mike Smith for some years. If he says the lights were green, they were green. He had a decent record at CSX for 5 years, so he's not inexperienced.
Would it be possible that the switch got thrown sometime after the engineer had observed the all-clear signals? What sorts of interlocks exist on such things?
BTW, one thing I'd like to see railroads install would be a signal for the train at the approach to each crossing with a big sign: "SOUND HORN AND REDUCE SPEED IF LIGHT NOT FLASHING". The light would then be wired to the crossing's signalling system. This would seem to avoid having train horns disturb people when crossing signals are working, while continuing to provide warnings for people when the signals malfunction.
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