Metrolink: Engineer Responsible For Deadly Crash

cbs2.com ^ | Sep 13, 2008 3:17 pm US/Pacific

[BenLurkin]

Wow.

[Ladycalif]

The local news said he was sending Text Messages.

[BenLurkin]

Witnesses are saying that Metrolink 111 would “always” wait at the Chatsworth station for the Leesdale Local to pass, but this video shows otherwise:

“Metrolink 111 meets the Leesdale Local”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwITY3YRXSc

[ColdWater]

A commuter train engineer who ran a stop signal was blamed Saturday for the nation's deadliest rail disaster in 15 years, a wreck that killed at least 25 people with more bodies still to be pulled from the smoldering, twisted metal.

It would not be too difficult to put something in place to stop the train if it approaches a stop light.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

The engineer was sending text messages while he was piloting the train? Yikes!

[BenLurkin]

It's very hard to figure. As someone who takes Metorlink from time to time I find it hard to believe — what I have observed is that Metrolink is very safety conscious and meticulous about observing the signals.

[Jeff Chandler]

She said she believes the engineer, whose name was not released, is dead.

Why not release the name?

[OCC]

Horrific crash. I thought there were electronic or mechanical fail safes now in place rather than just a red light to keep two trains from using the same track.

[Ladycalif]

Robert Sanchez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IZz0FkaiGg&feature=related

[Yaelle]

He was sending text messages?? Oh my gosh.

If he hadn’t died in this crash, he would surely be wishing he were among the dead.

So very sad.

[RoarkMan]

I ride this trian everyday and have for a decade now. I took off Friday for my kid’s birthday. There are a lot of sidings and switches along the route and commuter trains share the rails with the freight trains. Sometimes we have to wait at a signal but usually the schedule is clear and we just stop at the stations. How can an engineeer miss a signal like this? Shouldn’t an alarm go off? All the trains have GPS, etc.

[BenLurkin]

I find it hard to believe any Metrolink engineer would miss a signal.

But I guess there is no other explanation?

[Las Vegas Ron]

Where abouts in Chatswroth did this happen?

[Las Vegas Ron]

Where abouts in Chatsworth did this happen?

[DB]

WOW!

[Big Giant Head]

The local news said he was sending Text Messages.

I wonder if this is true? Did the text-message-reciever person show up and prove this?

[azhenfud]

"....the mangled wreckage of a commuter train that collided head-on with a freight train on the same track."

If they're on the same track headed toward each other, there's no other way to collide but "head-on".

Prayers up for all those affected...

[Congressman Billybob]

The Amtrak crash at Chase, Md., which killed 25 people and injured about 200, may have had a similar cause. In the Amtrak case, a Conrail engineer "ran through a stop sign" and wound up on the track in front of a speeding north-bound passenger train, the Colonial.

More than a decade ago, all Conrail locomotives had a "dead man switch." If the engineer failed to obey a wayside signal (to stop, for instance) the engine would stop, immediately.

Obviously, this commuter train did not have a dead man switch. The engineer failed to obey the signals. The train did not stop automatically. Why didn't it have that switch? In the Amtrak case, it was union opposition to such switches.

Congressman Billybob

Tenth in the ten-part series, "The Owner's Manual (Part 10) -- The Remaining Amendments"

Latest article, "I, Obama"

[BenLurkin]

Interesting.

[bobby.223]

my first question also. loved ones notified first maybe? legal reasons? not sure of his name? or...........