This train collision is so tragic - in the news all day here

[okarol]

My comment: Yesterday's train wreck was not far from us. This commuter train was filled with people on their way home from work. You'd think with digital tracking and computerized routes that this kind of thing couldn't happen anymore.

Human error led to fatal train collision, spokeswoman says

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Friday's two-train collision killed 25 people and injured more than 130 others near Los Angeles after an engineer failed to heed a stop signal, a spokeswoman for Metrolink commuter trains said.

The engineer was guiding the Metrolink train that slammed head-on into a freight train and is not believed to have survived, Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said.

"It was human error," Tyrrell said, adding this was Metrolink's belief "barring any new information" from an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

NTSB spokeswoman Kitty Higgins said the agency would "look at everything before we rule anything in or out."

Tyrrell said the engineer, whom she didn't identify, was a subcontractor employed by another company. She said she did not have details of his record.

The crash occurred about 4:30 p.m. PT Friday in Chatsworth, a northwest Los Angeles suburb. The Metrolink train had about 220 passengers and two crew members on board at the time, according to Tyrrell. VideoWatch rescuers search for victims »

Forty-five of the injured were in critical condition, with 40 flown to hospitals, Tyrrell said. Another 50 had minor injuries, and 40 others were treated at the crash site but transported to hospitals for evaluation.

"It was like running into a brick wall at 60 miles an hour," an injured passenger told CNN affiliate KABC.

In the minutes after the crash, passers-by joined emergency personnel in an effort to free passengers from the wreckage.

On Saturday afternoon, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the search of the wreckage had finished. Earlier in the day, authorities were picking through the wreckage and freeing trapped bodies.

Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County coroner's office, told reporters two bodies -- both of females -- had yet to be identified. If the females had carried identification, it probably was lost in the crash, he said.

As of 9 a.m. PT Saturday, authorities had been able to notify relatives of eight victims, he said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the crash site on Saturday, telling reporters it was "one of the worst train accidents in modern history in California."

The NTSB will make a final determination of the crash's cause. Higgins, the agency's spokeswoman, said data recorders have been recovered from both trains, along with a video recorder from the freight train.

Higgins said that out of the trains' five crew members, four survived. Authorities will interview the surviving crew members, Higgins said.

Tyrrell said a review of "a number of programs," including the signal system, showed the commuter train's engineer failed to heed a stop signal, Tyrrell said.

"We don't know how the error happened, but this is what we believe happened," Tyrrell said.

The wreck occurred on a curved part of the track where the speed limit is 40 mph, Tyrrell said.

She said that just like road vehicles, trains are subject to signal systems. At the wreck site is a siding where one train can wait while another passes, she said.

"They receive a signal to stop and they must hold their location until other traffic has passed," she said.

Villaraigosa on Saturday praised police officers and firefighters for working under emotionally draining conditions and treating the victims with respect.

"This has been a grueling night for them," he said.

The crash sparked a fire that impeded firefighters's efforts to reach the front commuter car, where most of the injuries occurred, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

The fire eventually was brought under control.

"We've already found survivors trapped under fatalities," Whitmore said late Friday.

Among those killed was Spree Desha, 35, a Los Angeles police officer on her way home from work, officials said Saturday.

"It's not unusual for us to respond to disasters," said Jerry Szymanski, an assistant commander for the LAPD. "When we got here, we found it was one that hit close to home."

Desha had "mentored and trained a lot of the young officers in the North Hollywood area," Szymanski said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Friday night a sheriff's deputy was in a hospital intensive care unit after collapsing while conducting rescue work.

CNN's Ted Rowlands contributed to this report.

All AboutTrain Travel • Los Angeles • U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
 
 
 
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/13/train.collision/index.html

[Sluff]

Thats just terrible and tragic. How could this happen?

[G-Ma]

My heart aches for those people, families and friends and rescuers.  Thank God for them.
Ann

[boxman55]

I don't get it. You would think that the passenger train ran at the same time every day. So what the hell is a freight train doing on that track going the opposite way at the same time. What a f...Up and what a tragedy

[kitkatz]

In California unfortunately the freight trains and metro-link often share the same rails during the day, Metro-link is supposed to have priority runtime during the day time.  The freight trains are supposed to be times to avoid Metro-link rail time.  It was a huge mess out here.

[Ang]

it's being  reported here  in  the  media  that  the  driver  was  sending  a  text  message  on  his  mobile  phone.

still  some  one  needs  to  get  their  ass  booted  big  time  cause  the  only  way  to  get  2  trains  on  a  single  line  is  human  screw  up.
my    as  a  former  stationmaster

[kitkatz]

Metrolink crash: How trains navigate the tracks
I spoke earlier to Francisco Oaxaca, a spokesman for Metrolink. The following is an overview of the systems in place that are supposed to help trains safely travel tracks in the Southland.

A quick review: The accident happened on a stretch of single track that runs through the Santa Susana Pass. There is double track immediately to the south of the crash site near the Chatsworth station (it runs from about DeSoto Avenue to Rinaldi Street). To the west of the pass, there is about 7,600 feet of double track near Simi Valley and another 8,000 feet of double track about five miles south of the Moorpark station.

In Los Angeles County, Metrolink owns the tracks used by the Ventura County-bound trains. That means it's also up to Metrolink to maintain the tracks and signals and to dispatch its trains. The Metrolink dispatch center is located in Pomona. At the center, dispatchers look at computer screens with schematics of all the rail lines in the area on which they can electronically monitor the progress of trains -- dispatchers can also see trains on tracks owned by others, such as the Union Pacific. Electronic signals are sent to the signals along the tracks from the center.

It is up to the engineer on the Metrolink train to see the signal and abide by it. “The engineer sees the signal, and then will contact the conductor over the radio and will call out the signal he or she has observed and the location and the conductor will repeat back that they did receive the communication from the engineer,” Oaxaca said.

I asked him if Metrolink knows if such a communication occurred on Friday. “That’s going to be part of our investigation and that’s what we’re working with the NTSB on,” Oaxaca said.

The train that crashed on Friday had one engineer and one conductor, as is usual for Metrolink. The engineer was killed, according to Metrolink, but Oaxaca said that the conductor, who survived, is believed to have been in the rear car of the three-car train. “I haven’t seen any statement from the conductor yet,” Oaxaca said.

Metrolink has 20 of its trains cross the Santa Susana Pass each day. Oaxaca did not know the number of freight trains that use the tracks (Amtrak also has service on those tracks), but said the Union Pacific freight train is a regular train. “That is a daily freight train," he said. "It’s a regular traveler on those tracks…They don’t fall on a regular schedule like we do. It’s my understanding that an encounter of our train and the freight train is a fairly regular occurrence -– not necessarily in that particular location. It can be in other locations depending on how early or late that freight train is coming.”

[Adam_W]

Unfortunately this type of accident has happened all too often. All it takes is a single distraction and a signal can be missed. Most, if not all modern locomotives also have in-cab signals that display what the next track signal is right ere on the engineer's control panel. Unfortunately these can be missed as well, and they don't always function the way they should. Using a phone and text messaging while driving a train at 40mph with hundreds of people on it is just ridiculous. This reminds me of an Amtrak crash in 1987 where an engineer and brakeman of three Conrail locomotives were smoking weed on the job, missed a red signal and ended up stopping on the mainline right in front of an Amtrak train going 120mph. There was also a rumour that they had a portable TV on their engine and were watching a football game. 16 people were killed and over 170 were injured. One of the rescuers described one of the wrecked locomotives as being like "a box of train parts sprinkled all over". The engineer spent four years in prison and lost his engineer's license. Fortunately he learned his lesson, and to this day he is a strong anti-drug advocate and he works with people who are addicted to drugs to help them get off of them. That accident also led to more and better drug and alcohol screening with railroad employees.

Adam