Within an hour of the train collision, dispatching computer tapes would have been pulled. Technicians with supervisors would have checked the signal to see if there was any problem.
The engineer of the metro link train reported no problems.
I agree that the announcement that the cause was human error was premature. But the NTBS will come up with the same conclusion. After 25 years on a major railroad you know how things work. Everyone takes shortcuts and does things they should not do. 99 times out of a hundred we get away with it.Its that one time——as in the case of a friend that lost a finger from working on a running machine, ignoring all safety rules simply because it is the way he always did it-— it is that one time that will get you. The engineer of the Metro link train run out of times.