Metrolink News/Alerts

[spokker]

The family accusing Sanchez of killing Burton is not surprising. No family wants to think that one of their own killed himself. The husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend is always a suspect. Since they didn't like the guy anyway it probably amplified their suspicions.

"One of his biggest concerns was how is this going to impact his career," defense attorney Wilson Wong said of his client's guilty plea. "He thought: 'Could this cause my career to come to an end?'"

Haha, why didn't he worry about that before he decided to become a thief?

I think it was suicide because if I were that guy I'd kill myself.

[Gokhan]

Long-live railfans! Without them the spirit of the railroads may not be kept alive. It's unfortunate that someone invented the term foamer, which was actually referring to a group of railfans who were going knee-deep in a polluted, foamy creek to take train pictures. Unlike the article says, the term has nothing to do with drooling.

Sep 18, 5:55 PM EDT

Train fans fear LA crash will derail their hobby

By CHRISTINA HOAG
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- They stand within feet of speeding locomotives, climb signal poles to photograph passing trains and try to befriend conductors and engineers.

Passionate train buffs call themselves railfans, but they are derisively known as "foamers" by critics who say the hobbyists foam at the mouth at the sight of a train while reveling in the minutiae of engine types, timetables and whistle sounds.

Most rail companies have long regarded them as nuisances and now railfans fear their access may be further limited with news that a Metrolink engineer was exchanging text messages with young rail buffs before running a red light and plowing into a freight, killing 25.

"After this there'll be questions as to what the relationship should be between railfans and employees," said Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains magazine, who estimates there are several hundred thousand train fans across the country.

Fascination with trains is a worldwide phenomenon that dates back to the original iron horses that helped create the Industrial Revolution. In the U.S., the railroad has captivated the public imagination long before the first steam engines stampeded across the Great Plains, bringing settlers to the West.

Train fans today have clubs, Web sites and magazines. They listen to railroad frequencies on scanners, take train watching picnics and organize trips by rail. They memorize schedules, film trains in motion and even don rail-related garb.

"Trains are massive, huge, loud, powerful," said Todd Clark of Canyon Country, who streams rail video on his Web site trainorders.com. "It's kind of neat to watch these beasts in operation."

John Almeida, of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, is a typical railfan. He sets up five video cameras at different angles along a stretch of railroad near his house and posts online movies of trains zooming by at 110 mph.

Their pastime, however, has come under increasing scrutiny in the wake of 9/11 security concerns. Buffs are now often questioned about why they're taking photos and watching trains.

"It's been a lot tougher," said Russ Johnson, a Stockton railfan who's studying to be a brakeman - not for a job, just for his hobby. "People get hassled even if they're on public property, not even railroad property."

Rail companies say they vigorously prosecute trespassers, railfans or not.

"We feel fortunate that people have such passion and enthusiasm for our industry," said Gary Fease, spokesman for Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad CSX. "But anyone trespassing on our property is putting themselves in great physical danger."

Some companies have embraced fans in limited ways, using their photos in corporate calendars, taking reports on derailments or cars on the tracks and even enlisting them as unofficial security patrols.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe launched a Citizens for Rail Security program two years ago, a sort of neighborhood watch in which railfans, who know the tracks as well as employees, report anomalies such as damaged equipment or suspicious persons.

"They would write to us unsolicited with their concerns," said BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent. "So we reached out to them."

About 8,000 people have joined the program, which does not provide special access, but recognizes their contributions. So far, the company has termed it a success, Kent said, although she could not provide any specific results.

With the Metrolink disaster, which apparently followed a string of text messages engineer Robert Sanchez exchanged with teen train buffs, railfans now wonder if friendships they've struck up with railroad employees could also be in jeopardy.

"Railroad employees may not be as friendly to railfans," said Mike Huggins, a Phoenix railfan. "Crews may report more suspicious activity about us."

---

On the Net:

www.trainorders.com
www.trainweb.org/phillynrhs
www.bnsf.com
www.csx.com

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

[spokker]

Being interested in trains is all well and good. No one cares about that, even if it may be a little odd. I'm into trains and even I think it's odd.

But to bother railroad workers while they are on duty is crossing a line. I hope that transit agencies enforce rules requiring those standing on platforms have a ticket or be in the process of buying one. I hope that railroad workers are responsible enough to avoid engaging in excessive conversation with railfans while operating the train.

Railfans do not have carte blanche to treat Southern California's regional rail network as their own personal model train set.

As an aside, I don't understand why anyone thinks it's okay for this engineer to have been communicating with these teenagers over the cell phone. To not be able to make friends his own age is a deep character flaw in my opinion. If I were the kid's father I would have given Mr. Sanchez a knock on the door and put a stop to the texting.

[Gokhan]

Perhaps they should have only required Bluetooth handsfree speakerphones, as required for the cars. Seriously, what would the engineer do in case of an emergency when the radio fails?

Robert Sanchez called in and ordered a roast-beef sandwich to be picked up at Moorpark (final stop two stations past Chatsworth) while he was at Union Station. Would a suicidal guy order a roast-beef sandwich just before he commits suicide?

Sep 19, 2:56 AM EDT

Calif. regulators ban cell use by train operators

By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- California regulators reacting to the deadly wreck of a commuter train issued an emergency order Thursday banning train operators from using cell phones on duty.

The Public Utilities Commission's unanimous decision to pass the temporary order came a day after investigators confirmed that the engineer of the Metrolink commuter train was text-messaging while on duty on the day the train ran a red light and collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train. Last week's wreck in Los Angeles killed 25 people, including the engineer, and injured more than 130.

Some railroads - including Metrolink - prohibit operators from using cell phones on the job, but the commission's president, Michael R. Peevey, has said the rules are widely ignored. There is no federal regulation of cell-phone use by railroad workers and until Thursday there had been no California rules.

Richard Clark, the commission's director of consumer protection and safety, said the use of cell phones was "implicated" in two earlier accidents this year involving other rail systems, but he declined to comment on its specific role in either case until the investigations are completed.

Under the new order the board approved in San Francisco, violators could be fined up to $20,000 per violation or have their operations shut down.

"Today's action will protect the public," Peevey said. "What we're doing today is just a modest first step in a much larger effort to improve railroad safety."

The National Transportation Safety Board requested the cell phone records of engineer Robert Sanchez after two teenage train fans said they exchanged text messages with him shortly before the crash Friday in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Chatsworth.

An NTSB statement issued Wednesday night did not say how many messages were found in the records or if any texting occurred shortly before the crash.

Sanchez's cell phone was not found in the severely crushed and burned wreckage, but the teens told KCBS-TV last week that they received a text message from the engineer at 4:22 p.m. - a minute before the collision.

The crash occurred at a curve in the track just short of where a 500-foot-long tunnel separates Chatsworth from Simi Valley and Moorpark in Ventura County.

Less than an hour before the wreck, Sanchez had called in an order for a roast beef sandwich that he was to pick up after making the train's final scheduled stop in Moorpark, the owner of the sandwich shop said Thursday.

"He said he was at Union Station (downtown) and that he wanted to call ahead to place his order," said Randy Richardson, owner of The Hub sandwich shop. "He wanted to make sure we were going to be open when he got to Moorpark, and said he would pick it up during his layover."

Richardson said Sanchez regularly stopped by his shop in the last two years.

"He was a super nice guy. We talked about sports, the weather, politics, what's going on in the news. Just a regular Joe," Richardson said.

The NTSB has determined Sanchez did not apply the brakes before the collision and ran a red light that could have prevented it. The agency said the tracks and signals were working properly and that human error was to blame.

Investigators are looking into Sanchez's work schedule. He was working an 10 1/2-hour split shift at the time of the crash. He began his shift at 6 a.m., took a nap during a 4 1/2-hour break and resumed duty at 2 p.m., about 2 1/2 hours before the crash, the NTSB said. His shift was to have ended at 9 p.m.

Memorial services were held Thursday for some of the crash victims, including Los Angeles police Officer Spree Desha. "She was all we could ever ask of someone who puts this badge on their chest," Chief William Bratton said.

One of the most compelling images in the hours after the crash came when police officers and sheriff's deputies formed lines and saluted as Desha's flag-draped body was carried from a crumpled train car.

In 2003, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Railroad Administration regulate the use of cell phones after finding that an engineer's phone use contributed to a fatal May 2002 accident in Texas.

Members of the FRA's railroad safety advisory committee have been considering restricting electronic device usage in the locomotive cab as it develops new safety rules, agency spokesman Steven Kulm said. He said the group discussed the matter in meetings earlier in the year and plans to meet next week in Chicago.

---

Associated Press Writer Terence Chea contributed to this story from San Francisco.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

[jejozwik]

Sept 19, 2008 16:22:58 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Robert Sanchez called in and ordered a roast-beef sandwich to be picked up at Moorpark (final stop two stations past Chatsworth) while he was at Union Station. Would a suicidal guy order a roast-beef sandwich just before he commits suicide?

iknow this isnt really a joking matter. but that gave me a chuckle.

this is really becoming a mystery now...

[spokker]

Perhaps they should have only required Bluetooth handsfree speakerphones, as required for the cars. Seriously, what would the engineer do in case of an emergency when the radio fails?

The engineer shouldn't be talking to anyone, period! Obviously the law should include provisions for an emergency situation or when normal lines of communication fail or it's a stupid law.

I heard the roast beef thing from a caller on KFI. Even suicidal dudes get hungry.

[wad]

Sept 19, 2008 16:29:38 GMT -8 spokker said:

I heard the roast beef thing from a caller on KFI. Even suicidal dudes get hungry.

The sandwich shop owner was also quoted in the AP story.

One thing we don't know, and we may never know, is whether we can reasonably establish Sanchez had a death wish.

For one thing, why would Sanchez call in for a sandwich in Moorpark if he knew he would not be there to pick it up? Also, did Sanchez know there would be a freight train waiting for him?

If Sanchez would know, so would the Metrolink dispatcher. Union Pacific should know there's an oncoming train. It leaves the same time every weekday.

[jejozwik]

Sept 20, 2008 4:12:33 GMT -8 wad said:

For one thing, why would Sanchez call in for a sandwich in Moorpark if he knew he would not be there to pick it up? Also, did Sanchez know there would be a freight train waiting for him?

If Sanchez would know, so would the Metrolink dispatcher. Union Pacific should know there's an oncoming train. It leaves the same time every weekday.

the only thing i can think of is, in the event this was a suicide, that he made his decision after union station. perhaps someone called him along the way?

also, maybe the call was a cover? to me it sounds like a stretch. but perhaps he called to make people think it was not a suicide.

...i dont think im helping matters. just sharing a thought ive been having

[Gokhan]

More on the roast-beef sandwich, along with the sad stories of some who were on the train.

Note, interestingly, that he was five minutes behind schedule, instead of the typical five minutes ahead of schedule with this train, and if you add another five minutes for the wait at the CP Topanga red light for the freight train to pass onto the siding, he wouldn't actually make it to the sandwich shop until around 5 PM.

Sep 20, 1:52 PM EDT

Rail collision altered lives in and outside train

By JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- It was shaping up as a perfect afternoon when Kipp Landis climbed aboard the doomed Metrolink 111 train at Union Station.

Landis had managed to get away from his law office early, giving him just enough time to catch the 3:35 p.m. train to Moorpark to coach his 5-year-old son Jett's soccer team. Along with his briefcase, he was carrying a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts for his players.

Before leaving the station, train engineer Robert Sanchez, a diabetic, phoned in his dinner order to a deli just down the street from Metrolink's Moorpark station, the last stop on his run. He told Hub Hoagies 'N More owner Randy Richardson he'd be there about 4:30 p.m. to pick up the roast beef sandwich - no onion, no tomato, extra light mayo and Italian dressing.

Neither Sanchez nor Landis would make it to that final stop.

Sanchez would die in the cab of his locomotive after driving through a red light and head-on into a freight train, killing 24 passengers. Landis would join many of his fellow passengers at an emergency room, fighting for his life.

The tragedy of Sept. 12 would forever alter the lives of hundreds of people, from the 222 on board to those who should have been on the train but missed it, to the relatives of riders who were killed, to the veteran first-responders who labeled it the most horrific thing they'd ever seen.

---

For Landis, the ride home began uneventfully with him taking his usual seat in the train's first car.

"It was a beautiful day, it was perfect," he recalled, describing one of those idyllic, sun-splashed Southern California afternoons seen on postcards.

A Metrolink rider for nearly 13 years, he ignored warnings of friends who called the front of the train the "suicide car." He figured he'd be safe as long as he sat with his back to the engine so that he wouldn't pitch forward if the train hit something. It never occurred to him that the train might run head-on into an oncoming locomotive going 40 mph.

The first 45 minutes of the ride were uneventful. Landis chatted with a young woman he worried would doze off and miss her stop.

She got off at the Chatsworth station, and about two minutes later - 4:22 p.m. - the 42-year-old attorney and Moorpark planning commissioner heard a gigantic bang.

"The next thing I remember, I was telling myself to breathe," Landis said from his hospital bed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last week.

---

Minutes after the crash, Dr. Marc Eckstein was pulling up to his San Fernando Valley home when he heard a bulletin on the radio about a train crash.

Eckstein, medical director for the Los Angeles Fire Department, put the car's emergency lights and siren on and raced to the scene 10 minutes away. A veteran of earthquakes, deadly fires and a 2005 Metrolink train crash that killed 11 people, Eckstein was stunned by what he saw.

"I've been doing emergency medicine for 25 years," since he was a teenage paramedic in New York in the 1980s, said Eckstein, 44. "I have never seen so much carnage like this in one place in my career."

Firefighters from nearby Station 77 could see smoke rising from the freight train's locomotive as they arrived. It was engulfed by flames and two of its crew members were trapped inside and frantically pounding on the windshield for help.

"That was a challenge, getting through that front windshield, because it's essentially like bulletproof glass. And they got those guys out, saved their lives," said fire Capt. Thomas Moore, 49. He said firefighters try to focus on moments like those rather than dwell on the people they couldn't save.

Near the fire, the Metrolink's locomotive was embedded in the first passenger car. Eckstein could see bodies of several riders ripped to pieces and intertwined with metal debris from the train. Some were stacked on top of injured passengers.

Among the dead was Alan Buckley, 59, who may have been Metrolink's biggest fan. He was riding from his home in Simi Valley to his job as a mechanic for the city of Burbank since 1992, the year the agency inaugurated commuter rail service.

His father had been a railroad switchman and he had been fascinated with trains since he was a child. He loved trains so much that he once sent his mother a postcard of the one he rode with the words: 'This is the train I take back and forth to work. The greatest thing that's ever happened to me.'"

"And that's what ended up killing him," said his son, Jeff Buckley, his voice choked with emotion.

Like Landis, Buckley had been seated in the front car. He rode in the back on the way to work and in the front on the way home because that's where his buddies sat.

Jerry Romero should have been in the train's second car, but he wasn't.

He decided at the last minute to drive to work that morning so he could pick up his new bicycle. He was at a Studio City bike shop when his frantic father called to find out if he was all right.

"Somebody made the statement to me about my being lucky, how I should be thankful, be happy," said Romero, 43. "But what I'm wondering is when I'm going to feel that."

Had he been on the train, he said, perhaps he could have helped some of the injured.

"It's a hard feeling to get out of your mind," he said.

---

Landis is unsure how long he was unconscious, but when he awoke he was trapped in the wreckage with a pair of firefighters standing above him, trying to get him out.

Another passenger was shouting for help. Saws were cutting through metal somewhere else on the train.

His cell phone was ringing nonstop but he couldn't move his arm to answer it. It was his wife who had been waiting for him at the train station with their three sons, ages 7, 5 and 1 month, and who was becoming increasingly certain with each unanswered call that he would never answer.

"I thought my arm was cut off," Landis said. "There was an arm laying across my body ... and I was touching the arm. So I told the firemen my arm had been severed. But I could hear the firemen talking to each other, and they said 'No, that's a DB.' A dead body."

It had landed on top of him.

The first car had indeed been the deadliest place to be. But the impact was so severe that even people in the rear car had been killed.

"I found two bodies on a staircase in the third car, one on top of the other," Eckstein said.

---

Landis was one of the first to be flown by helicopter to a hospital. He was relieved when he was finally in flight, but he worried when doctors said they wanted to put him in a medically induced coma while he recovered from serious internal injuries.

He had suffered a bruised heart, bruised lungs, broken ribs, a broken back, broken arm, fractured sternum, internal bleeding and had a wrist dislocated so badly it would need surgery.

Doctors were able to keep him conscious during his recovery. After five days in intensive care, he was transferred to a regular hospital room. He took his first steps Tuesday, but he doesn't expect to be going home anytime soon.

---

When Metrolink resumed service Monday, Romero returned to the train, and he and other emotional passengers hugged and wept.

He posted a note at the Simi Valley station listing fellow riders he knows only by first name and asking them to call and tell him they're OK.

He found himself paying more attention to anyone he has a chance encounter with, not just his train friends. He'll pause to smile and say hi, and one day last week he picked up some Mickey Mouse stickers at work and handed them out to everyone in the second car.

"Things are starting to get back into place," he said, striking a more upbeat tone. "I don't know if it will ever get back in place to the full extent, but it's getting there."

---

Buckley had told his family that when he died he wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered from the back of a train.

His son doubts that it's legal to spread the ashes from the back of the train, but his family hopes to scatter them off a bridge above the tracks.

"He died truly doing something he loved," Buckley said of his father. "But I hope he died peacefully and not in some mangled steel. That's a hard thought to get out of my head."

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Gokhan]

Latest info on the ongoing NTSB investigation.

NTSB team sorting out what happened in Metrolink crash
'It's about gathering facts and only facts,' says the lead investigator into the Sept. 12 collision in Chatsworth, which killed 25 people.

By Robert J. Lopez, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 20, 2008

Engineer Robert M. Sanchez pulled Metrolink 111 out of the Chatsworth station and was rolling north at 54 mph. About a mile later, he entered a restricted speed zone and throttled down to 42 mph.

Just ahead, on his right side, was a red light. It was a warning to stop so that an oncoming Union Pacific freight train could move off the main track and onto a siding. But Sanchez sped past the light and barreled over a switch mechanism that was supposed to guide the other train onto the side rail, according to federal investigators.

A quarter mile later, along a sharp curve in the tracks, the two trains collided at a combined speed of 83 mph. Sanchez never hit his brakes.

The job of sorting out what happened at 4:23 p.m. Sept. 12 now falls to a group of National Transportation Safety Board investigators led by Wayne Workman.

"It's about gathering facts and only facts," he said. "Our purpose is to investigate this and provide the best possible results."

Sanchez's actions are at the center of a federal investigation into the worst train accident in modern California history, which killed 25 people and injured 135.

Yet even as investigators uncover evidence suggesting Sanchez may have been responsible for the devastating collision, they are vowing to conduct a wide-ranging inquiry that will examine any number of possible causes and probably take a year to complete.

"The more narrow your investigation, the less clarity you have," Workman said.

He and other federal officials said in interviews this week that they plan to produce a detailed report that pinpoints a probable cause and lists recommendations to address factors contributing to the crash.

"It's a very deliberative, careful process," said agency board member Kitty Higgins, who responded from Washington, D.C., with the safety board's 17-member "Go Team."

The group, which includes rail experts, electrical engineers and psychologists, was on call when the Sept. 12 crash occurred and flew to Los Angeles the next morning.

Some of them, like Workman, are railroad veterans. The 59-year-old lead investigator is a fourth-generation railroad employee who started as an engineer and became a general manager of a rail company operating on the East Coast before joining the agency.

The NTSB is one of the smallest federal agencies in Washington. It has 400 employees, half of them dedicated to investigations. Typically, it investigates about 2,000 aviation accidents each year and about 500 other accidents on railways, highways and waterways.

The NTSB has no enforcement authority and relies largely on the thoroughness of its investigations and final reports. "The only thing the board has is its credibility," said James E. Hall, who chaired the agency's five-member board of directors during the Clinton administration.

According to the agency, 84% of its rail safety recommendations have been adopted by regulators and rail companies.

To leverage its limited resources, the agency relies on the "party system," which Workman and his investigators launched at the scene.

Every party involved in the Chatsworth collision -- Metrolink, the Los Angeles Fire Department and the union representing the Union Pacific engineer, among others -- has been asked to take part in the investigation.

Aiding them are experts from the Federal Railroad Administration and the California Public Utilities Commission, which shares some rail oversight with the federal government.

Investigative groups were formed, with one person picked as a coordinator to work with Workman throughout the process. The groups include a human performance team to study the actions of every rail employee involved in the crash. Other groups are examining warning signals on the tracks and reviewing the emergency response of hundreds of firefighters and law enforcement officers.

A crash-worthiness group is looking at the design of the passenger cars to determine whether structural flaws such as weak doors or interior tables hindered rescue efforts or contributed to fatalities.

"They will painstakingly figure out how every person was injured or died," said Barry Sweedler, who spent nearly 30 years with the agency as an investigator and administrator.

Workman and his team were scheduled to return to Washington today.

In the coming weeks, metallurgy experts will analyze pieces from the shattered Metrolink engine in the NTSB laboratory and analysts will write draft reports.

Among the chief tasks, investigators said, will be to pore over Sanchez's medical and training records to develop a profile of his behavior during the final days before the crash.

The safety board has said the engineer was sending and receiving text messages while on duty the day of the crash. What it did not say, however, is whether he was doing so as he left the Chatsworth station.

To the uninitiated eye, Sweedler said, the fact Sanchez failed to hit his brakes suggests he didn't see the oncoming freight train, perhaps because he was sending a text message.

But Sweedler cautioned against jumping to conclusions. "You think you have a smoking gun," he said, "then you get information that contradicts that the next day."

[e-mail]

[Gokhan]

It turns out that the positive train-control systems have been mandated by the US government and installed on many passenger railroads since 1920. I can't believe some people are still opposing it, saying that the technology is not yet ready.

Years of practical use prove that rail controls work

For decades, automatic braking and other systems have limited the damage in crashes. But Metrolink officials say the technology hasn't been perfected for use in Southern California.

By Dan Weikel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 22, 2008

During the evening rush hour on March 25, a runaway freight car weighing 112 tons hurtled down the tracks toward a Massachusetts commuter train loaded with 300 passengers.

As the freight car closed in at 30 mph, the commuter train suddenly braked to a stop, not by any action of its engineer, but because of an automated system designed to sense another train on the tracks.

The freight car slammed into the commuter train's locomotive, and 150 passengers suffered minor injuries. But officials with the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority say the crash would have been much worse had the commuter line not been equipped with an automatic braking system -- a system that has been in place and improved upon for years.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 12 crash in Chatsworth that took the lives of at least 25 people and injured 135, Metrolink officials repeatedly have said that such controls have not yet been perfected to the point where they can be installed throughout Southern California's rail system, where 66% of the tracks are shared by freight and passenger trains.

But as the Massachusetts case indicates, control systems have been installed in several places around the country where they have worked effectively. Safety officials say that positive train controls, which are designed to stop a train automatically if an engineer goes through a red signal or if sensors detect another train on the tracks, could have prevented the Chatsworth crash or reduced its impact.

Though the cause of the accident is under investigation, preliminary findings suggest that the Metrolink engineer missed a stop signal and failed to wait on a side track for the freight train to pass.

Positive train controls have been installed on railroads for almost 90 years in the United States. They were first required by the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1920, when 49 railroads were ordered to install train stop systems on some passenger lines.

In 1937, Congress, reacting to a rash of passenger train wrecks, ordered railroads to install automatic train stop systems in high-risk corridors.

But because of the dramatic decline in train travel in the U.S., many of the systems were removed with the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission, which became the Federal Railroad Administration in 1967.

"Positive train control is not a new concept, nor a new technology," said George Gavalla, the former head of the Federal Railroad Administration's safety office, where he worked from 1995 to 2004. "That accident would not have happened had they invested in a system that can detect a train going through a signal," he said, referring to Metrolink.

Francisco Oaxaca, a spokesman for Metrolink, said the only part of the agency's 388 miles of track that has automatic braking is a stretch in south Orange County that was equipped with the system by another railroad before Metrolink began operation in 1992. Oaxaca said Metrolink officials were not prepared Friday to say anything more about rail safety measures.

Positive train controls range in complexity from sensors and automatic braking systems to sophisticated designs that rely on Global Positioning System technology, computers and digital radio communications.

Cab signals, a system that has been used for decades on trains, are one of the simplest safety devices. Operated by electricity, a cab-mounted display tells engineers what a signal is in advance so they can prepare for it. The signals communicate with trains through wires in the track bed.

Another device that has long been available is automatic or positive train stop, a mechanical and electronic system that activates the brakes if a train proceeds through a stop signal. The brakes are set by a lever or bar in the tracks.

Amtrak and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority have combined automatic train stop with cab signals and track sensors. More sophisticated systems employ Global Positioning System technology to monitor train locations and speeds; sensors and computers to gather and analyze data; remote control equipment for engines; and advanced digital radios to communicate with trains, signals and dispatchers.

The most complex systems, which have been under study for more than 20 years, can detect speed-limit violations, improperly aligned switches, unauthorized train movements and whether trains are on the wrong track or have missed signals.

Grady Cothen, a deputy associate administrator of safety at the railroad administration, said that in the last 40 years the railroad administration has been trying to preserve and improve the systems that exist scattered across the country.

Today, upgraded versions of the older systems can be found on commuter railroads, Amtrak routes and parts of freight lines around the U.S. Similar systems have been widely used for decades in Japan and Europe, where a uniform system is being developed across the continent that incorporates the latest technology.

In the U.S., demonstration projects using advanced positive train controls are underway at nine railroads in 16 states. Railroad administration officials say some technical problems and cost issues need to be resolved before a national system is created.

"You can apply the systems regionally, but the railroads want" a uniform system nationally, Cothen said. "The major freight carriers have settled on the technology. We will all be on the same page very shortly. We will lick this and get it done."

Sophisticated systems have been operating successfully for almost a decade on Amtrak lines in southwest Michigan and on parts of the Northeast Corridor between Washington and New York, as well as between Boston and New Haven, Conn. Passenger and freight trains use the lines.

In 2000, Amtrak and the Michigan Department of Transportation began operating an advanced train control system along 40 miles of track between Chicago and Detroit. Another 20 miles is scheduled to be added in the months ahead. So far, the system has cost about $40 million.

"They have been very effective," said Cliff Black, an Amtrak spokesman. "We haven't had any major technical problems. The systems permit you to operate trains at high speeds close to each other."

The NTSB made the first recommendations for positive train control more than 30 years ago. In 1990, the NTSB added the technology to its list of 10 most wanted safety improvements.

In the last 10 years, the agency has investigated 52 serious rail accidents, including four transit accidents that probably would have been prevented with the installation of a positive train control system. The NTSB had fatality and injury data for 29 of the 52 accidents. In those accidents, 37 people were killed and 595 were injured.

In August 1999, the federal Railroad Safety Advisory Committee issued a report stating that out of a sample of 6,400 train accidents of all types, 2,659 accidents could have been prevented had some form of positive train control been implemented.

Agency officials say they have been frustrated about what they consider to be the slow pace of developing and applying positive train control technology around the country. They blame a failure of leadership in Washington and the railroad industry, which views positive train control as an expensive add-on.

"We have the technology," said Jim Hall, who chaired the NTSB from 1994 to 2001. "But we don't have the will."

[e-mail]

[Gokhan]

As expected Fix Expo, Neighbors for Smart Rail (Neighbors for No Rail as I call them), and other NIMBY groups have already started their spin around the Metrolink tragedy for anti-light-rail propaganda. They are pressuring to get rid of all grade crossings for light-rail, as well as commuter rail, saying that if positive train-control systems are necessary, then grade separation is also necessary.

Let me explain this:

Analogue of positive train-control system for the automobiles would be things like electronic vehicle-stability control (mandated by US government for 2010+ model-year cars), microwave-radar crash-protection systems, etc. Analogue of grade separation for the automobiles would be to grade separate every single major street and highway. If we have to get rid of light-rail and commuter rail, then we also have to get rid of every major street or highway that has grade crossings. For example we should get rid of Wilshire Blvd.

I think even the most uninformed politician wouldn't take this NIMBY bait. Hopefully the Farmdale issue will be over with a good result and we won't have to stand this nonsense of these folks anymore.

[Gokhan]

Railroad reform is now imminent.

Sep 22, 9:02 PM EDT

Congress hustling to pass rail reform after crash

By DAISY NGUYEN and ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writers

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- After a fatal commuter train collision, Congress is hurrying to pass new laws that would limit hours engineers work, mandate technology to stop trains on a collision course and enact the rail industry's first other major reforms in 14 years.

The train oversight and safety agency, the Federal Railroad Administration, has operated under an expired 1994 law, and until the Sept. 12 crash, it looked like Congress would end another legislative session without changes.

Twenty-five people were killed when the Metrolink commuter train collided with a freight train, the nation's deadliest train accident since 1993.

Now lawmakers are scrambling to come up with a final deal by the end of the week on sweeping reforms pushed for years by the National Transportation Safety Board. The House and Senate have passed versions of the bill, but hope to resolve differences before the election recess Friday, according to Senate aides.

"We regulate in this country by counting tombstones," said Barry M. Sweedler, the former director of the NTSB's office of safety recommendations. "If you don't have enough people dead, not much gets done. The pressure isn't there to do it."

In 1993, Amtrak's Sunset Limited jumped the rails on a weakened bridge and plunged into a bayou near Mobile, Ala., killing 47 people.

The following year, Congress passed the Federal Railroad Safety Authorization Act of 1994, but it expired four years later and the FRA has operated without new congressional guidance.

Critics say serious safety issues have gotten short shrift in that time. Among the most pressing are train operator fatigue - which the FRA estimates is at least a contributing factor in 25 percent of serious train accidents - and installation of technology that can engage the brakes if a train misses a signal or gets off-track.

"A 21st century rail system cannot run safely on laws, technology and infrastructure from decades ago," complained Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., author of the Senate version of legislation that would reauthorize the FRA, give it hundreds of new safety inspectors and add a host of new safety rules.

The FRA, which critics view as too compliant with the railroad industry, is lukewarm toward some of the proposed changes, and the railroad industry says heavy regulation isn't the solution. The FRA says it can do its job without new safety inspectors, and while both the FRA and the railroad industry claim they support so-called positive train control technology, neither wants Congress to impose a timeline.

The FRA also wants to set work hours for rail employees, something Congress does under a 1907 law. Train crews are now allowed to work 432 hours per month, compared to 100 hours per month for commercial airline pilots; Lautenberg's bill would cap work at 276 hours per month.

Part of the tension between the FRA, Congress and the industry is an artifact of the long history of railroads in this country, which existed for decades before the FRA was created. Railroads still are responsible for overseeing their own locomotive engineers and have primary responsibility for safety inspections on their own property.

George Gavalla, a railroad safety consultant and former head of the Federal Railroad Administration's safety office, said there are large areas of railroad activity that are not subject to federal regulation.

"Over the years, on a piecemeal basis the FRA would issue regulations to specific problems," Gavalla said. "Every time there's an accident ... or if there were recurring accidents of a certain severity, there's a new regulation to address it."

Because of the incremental approach, railroads have developed their own operational rules and safety procedures.

For example, the operator of the Metrolink train that ran a red light in Los Angeles was using his cell phone on duty, the NTSB said. While that was a violation of Metrolink's rules, the FRA has yet to take action on the cell phone issue. Critics say the process is painstakingly slow because an advisory committee that discussed the subject is made up of industry and labor representatives who rarely agree on safety policies.

After the crash, the California Public Utilities Commission seized on what it saw as a lack of federal jurisdiction and voted last week to prohibit train operators from using cell phones while on duty in the state.

The FRA is a relatively small agency compared to the size of the railroad industry. It has about 430 inspectors to oversee an industry with over 235,000 employees and over 1.3 million freight cars running on 220,000 miles of rail track, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Gokhan]

Sounds good to me, as long as they don't end up chatting with and distracting each other.

Metrolink considers adding 2nd engineer for safety
By Erica Werner
Associated Press
Article Launched: 09/23/2008 05:20:18 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Southern California's Metrolink service is considering adding a second engineer on its trains to help with safety in the wake of the Sept. 12 collision in Los Angeles that killed 25 people.

Metrolink chairman Ron Roberts disclosed that the move was under consideration during a U.S. Senate briefing Tuesday in Washington. He and other rail officials faced stinging accusations that they weren't moving fast enough on safety.

Authorities say the engineer on the Metrolink commuter train that day did not stop at a red signal that would have prevented the head-on collision with a Union Pacific freight train.

California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, backed up by a witness from the National Transportation Safety Board, spent much of the hearing demanding to know why railroads had yet to install safety technology that can apply brakes on trains headed for collision.

Officials with Metrolink, Union Pacific and the Federal Railroad Administration insisted they supported the technology, called "positive train control," but repeatedly hedged when Boxer and Feinstein pressed them on why they hadn't gotten it done.

The technology has been installed on portions of the Northeast Corridor, and FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman acknowledged that "Positive train control would have prevented this collision."

Officials said they were working on it but it took time and was more complicated where freight and commuter trains share rail lines, as is the case in many places in California, including where the accident occurred.

When the senators pressed for interim safety measures, Roberts said Metrolink was discussing the option of a second engineer. Feinstein and Boxer pressed him to make it happen.

"I, for one, believe you have to do that, and not to do that in the wake of past accidents makes the railway very culpable," Feinstein said.

[jejozwik]

well im glade they are considering it

[Gokhan]

Lots going on these days regarding railroads and how to improve them -- definitely a good thing. I agree entirely with the Metrolink Chair's statement to the Senate.

METROLINK CHAIRMAN TESTIFIED TODAY IN U.S. SENATE

WHO: Ron Roberts, chairman of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority Board of Directors, operator of Metrolink
WHAT: Testimony at a U.S. Senate members briefing at the request of Sen. Barbara Boxer
WHEN: Sept. 23, 2008, 3 p.m.
WHERE: United States Senate, Washington, D.C.

TEXT OF HIS TESTIMONY:

Senator Boxer, members of the Committee, I am Ron Roberts, Chairman of the Metrolink Board of Directors.

I want to personally thank you for your leadership in calling for this briefing on the tragic collision that occurred last week in our great state. We as a community know you understand the critical linkages Metrolink provides to all of Southern California and because of your leadership today, we have an opportunity to positively change passenger rail service in America, and we need to work together.

The recent events surrounding the Metrolink incident have been catastrophic for all of us involved, especially the 25 passengers and a crew member who lost their lives and the 135 passengers who were injured. You have shown yourself to be a solutions-driven individual, which is one reason why you have served our great state for nearly 18 years.

The real issue is that the United States is in the 21st century and we’re operating our passenger rail and freight rail systems as if we have a nation with a population of 100 million people and are isolated from the global economy.

21st century rail must not continue to look like our grandparents’ railroads. This country has not kept up with the pressing growth in goods movement and increasing demand for transit and passenger rail.

Metrolink service began 16 years ago, operating on freight tracks. We continue to operate our entire 388-mile passenger train network in one of the most congested urban areas in the country, on tracks that are shared with national freight and passenger trains. Each day, Metrolink’s 145 trains travel through 422 highway-rail grade crossings.

The fact that passenger rail is in competition for capacity with the freight rail system in our nation, let alone in Southern California, where 44% of our nation’s goods come through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, is truly deplorable for our nation and Southern Californians. It is a fact that must not be passed on to our nation’s next generation.

The need for transportation infrastructure investment is critical. Your own Congressionally created commission, the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, in its January report, states that transit ridership will increase from 9 billion in 2005 to 14 billion by 2035. And the necessary investment to keep up with transit and passenger rail growth over the next 15 years is $14 [billion] to $32 billion each year.

These growth estimates are real: Over the last three months alone, Metrolink’s ridership is up 14% from last year due to gasoline prices and increasing freeway congestion.

We can all sit here today and place blame or we can have a substantive discussion on the solutions that we, as responsible partners in rail, can put into action.

Some of the solutions are echoes of testimony you heard just three weeks ago at your hearing in Los Angeles: 1) more funding, 2) make passenger rail and transit a priority, 3) invest and build dual track in major freight rail corridors like Southern California, and 4) grade separate roadways and rail lines.

Solutions I would add include: enact the rail safety legislation; pass the Amtrak bill, and advance the development of positive train control systems. These solutions will move us forward, now.

Metrolink strongly supports your and Senator Feinstein’s legislation mandating railroads to develop and implement positive train control systems.

For Southern California, inter-operable PTC systems would be used by the Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Amtrak, Metrolink and Coaster.

Metrolink has initiated 10 key steps to support an eventual PTC system. These steps include: building a centralized dispatch system, upgrading the signals and communications equipment to a microprocessor and solid state-based system, starting the installation of a fiber-optic communications network, and starting to digitally map the railroad. All of these steps are required for PTC. Much more work must be done. We believe that current development efforts must be accelerated to the fullest extent possible.

All of these solutions -– PTC, grade separations, dual track, new funding authorizations –- require a public-private partnership of responsible investment on many levels: locally, regionally, statewide and nationally.

As the Chairman of the Board of Metrolink, I want to extend my sincerest regret for this situation. However, this collision is not just about what the NTSB investigation determines to be the cause. It’s about our nation’s lack of investment in passenger rails as a whole.

Senator Boxer, you and Senator Feinstein understand this issue better than most members of Congress. You and I live with this every day in Southern California where the passenger and freight rail network is stretched to capacity.

Thank you again for your leadership and courage in working toward solutions to ensure the safety of every single Metrolink passenger and the integrity of our transportation system. Together, we will improve passenger rail in California and the entire nation.

[Gokhan]

In my previous post, Metrolink Chair was quoted saying $14 to $32 billion a year is necessary to modernize the railroads. And the Congress throws in the money -- $50 million. Yet, neither Democrats nor Republicans mind us taxpayers pay trillions of dollars for the SUVs and luxury homes of the people who purchased them on never-to-be-paid loans and credit-card debts. I believe that our economic system is completely corrupted.

This is still progress though. I've found Feinstein calling FRA an old boys' club really funny. What could the old boys in FRA do though if the old girls and boys in the Congress don't give them any money?

Congressional negotiators reach compromise on rail safety measure

The bill would provide funds for technology and limit work hours for crews. The installation of 'positive train controls' is delayed until 2015.
By Steve Hymon and Cynthia Dizikes, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 24, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Spurred by the deadly head-on crash of two trains in Chatsworth, congressional negotiators agreed Tuesday to a groundbreaking rail safety reform bill requiring many passenger and freight trains to be equipped with technology that can automatically prevent collisions.

The measure had stalled before Sept. 12, when a Metrolink commuter train crashed into a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135. It was the worst rail accident in modern California history -- one that might have been avoided, investigators say, if the trains had automatic braking systems.

The bill, however, would delay the required installation of so-called "positive train control" systems until 2015 for most passenger service and freight trains carrying hazardous materials, a compromise that disappointed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

"No question it's good that there's a deal," Feinstein said, "and I hope that it can be passed before this Congress comes to a close. Yet, I'm very disappointed about the deadline."

Feinstein said she had hoped the railroads would be forced to act by 2012 for "at least the highest-priority single-track lines that carry both passengers and freight."

Metrolink has to share most of its track with freight carriers, whereas many commuter services around the United States have far less competition with freight trains.

The compromise legislation will be put to a vote in the House today and then go to the Senate before Congress is scheduled to adjourn Friday.

The bill would provide $50-million to help pay for the technology, cap the number of hours that freight train crews could work each month at 276 hours -- the current limit is more than 400 hours -- and require the U.S. Department of Transportation to draw up limits for passenger crews. In addition, the bill would require the Federal Railroad Administration to add safety workers.

Feinstein and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) spent part of Tuesday sternly questioning rail officials about the Metrolink crash.

The senators repeatedly expressed frustration over the fact that in Southern California, Metrolink and Union Pacific have to rely solely on single engineers as the last defense against collisions.

Rail industry officials said the most advanced technology is not yet developed enough to dependably work in Southern California's complex web of passenger and freight traffic.

"I can't understand it, I can't be sympathetic with it," Feinstein said during the briefing. "It's an incredible frustration to say you can continue to operate passenger and freight on the same single track with no collision-avoidance system."

The Sept. 12 crash near Chatsworth occurred after a Metrolink engineer failed to heed three signals, warning him that another train was ahead on the same track. The engineer was killed in the crash. Why the signals were apparently missed remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Last week, the California Public Utilities Commission directed rail companies to immediately order employees not to use cellphones on the job, in part because the Chatsworth engineer had sent and received text messages on the day of the crash.

At one point in the hearing before Boxer and Feinstein, Metrolink Chairman Ron Roberts disclosed that officials with the commuter rail agency were discussing whether to immediately place a second engineer in the cabs of all trains. On an average weekday, Metrolink operates about 145 trains, and adding a second engineer would probably increase the rail line's costs.

However, shortly after Roberts' spoke, Metrolink officials in Los Angeles downplayed the suggestion that two engineers would be used soon.

"I think Ron was correct in saying that we'll consider it," Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said. "But everything is on the table at this point."

Appearing with Roberts were Kitty Higgins, an NTSB board member; Dennis J. Duffy, Union Pacific's vice president for operations; and Joseph H. Boardman, head of the Federal Railroad Administration.

Some of the toughest questions were aimed at Boardman. The senators bluntly accused his agency of failing to act as a safety regulator over the nation's freight and commuter train services.

In his opening statement, Boardman acknowledged that positive train controls would have prevented the Metrolink crash.

"When something like this collision has happened, we all make the judgment that we have been waiting too long for this 'elusive' technology and we are impatient in wanting a solution now," Boardman said. "I share that impatience. I want action now, and you are providing help in making that happen."

Boxer questioned Boardman about what he could do immediately to help improve safety on rail lines in Southern California.

Unsatisfied with Boardman's answer that he couldn't do anything dramatic immediately, Boxer replied: "So you can't do anything about safety?" then added a few moments later "What powers do you have? What's your job? You're sitting there saying you can't tell them to do anything?. . . . You have the power, you don't want to do it, you'd rather work with the railroads."

Boardman also said that older technologies that exist to alert engineers of impending collisions or slow trains before crashes may not have worked to stop the Metrolink train accident. Duffy said that lesser train control systems "do not work particularly well on freight" railroads.

Feinstein left the hourlong hearing clearly exasperated with what she heard, calling the Federal Railroad Administration "an old boys' club" in an interview.

"I think they sit down and talk to the railroads," Feinstein said. "I think they do what the railroads want."

In a statement after congressional negotiators had agreed on the rail safety bill, Boxer noted that, "The Federal Railroad Administrator has the ability under this bill to speed up the timeline" for the installation of automatic braking systems, "and I trust he will do it."

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
Dizikes reported from Washington and Hymon reported from Los Angeles.

[Gokhan]

Now Metrolink says their trains do have the automatic train-stop system installed. But it turns out that their tracks don't. It's like having a television but not having cable or satellite. It's so bizarre. Go figure. I guess it's lack of agency control over the railroads and, of course, lack of funding by the government.

Metrolink chief says agency would consider installing safety systems

David R. Solow tells the MTA board that there are obstacles to adding automatic train stop technology. But the panel is trying to find $5 million to use toward securing braking devices.
By Steve Hymon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 26, 2008

In his most extensive public statement since the deadly Chatsworth train crash, Metrolink Chief Executive David R. Solow said Thursday that his agency would consider immediately installing devices that could halt or slow trains when a collision was imminent.

However, cautioning that there were potential obstacles to adding the equipment, he provided no assurance that the installation would be done. For the first time, he also revealed that Metrolink locomotives already have the ability to read stop signals that could be sent from tracks lined with such an automatic braking system.

Solow's remarks came as political leaders continued to press him and Metrolink's part-time board to swiftly embrace safety reforms and prove they can effectively guide a complex regional rail line that carries 48,000 commuters each weekday.

Speaking before the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- Metrolink's largest local backer -- Solow said he wasn't sure the Sept. 12 head-on collision between a Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight train could have been avoided by the most readily available device, known as automatic train stop.

Twenty-five people died and 135 were injured in the crash, which has brought action by state regulators and helped propel a groundbreaking national rail safety bill pending in the Senate. Federal investigators say they cannot yet explain why the Metrolink engineer failed to stop at a light warning that another train was approaching on the same track.

Solow indicated that the automatic train stop system installed on Metrolink engines -- the agency has 38 locomotives -- has not been used across all 388 miles of track because the equipment that makes it work is in place only along a stretch in south Orange County.

At best, Solow said the equipment, which he said dates to the 1940s, could slow trains or perhaps halt them when engineers do not stop at red signals. "In certain instances, [the train stop devices] would slow down the train, and that's better than not slowing down the train," he said.

In the two weeks since the accident, Solow has said little publicly, instead deferring comments to members of the Metrolink board. Of the five counties that fund Metrolink, the MTA provides the lion's share, and its board is chaired by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

In the wake of the crash, Villaraigosa and several other MTA board members have been publicly pushing Metrolink to expand the use of automatic braking devices, put two engineers in each locomotive and add a video camera to locomotives to monitor the crews.

Villaraigosa questioned Solow on Thursday about anti-collision technology. Solow said Metrolink operates in some of the most congested train corridors in the nation, and for that reason, the agency is hoping to one day equip its trains with a more advanced system that could stop any train traveling on any track in the region.

A safety bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday requires railroads to put the most sophisticated system -- called positive train control -- in place by 2015.

Members of the MTA board said they expected Metrolink to move sooner to get an emergency stopping system in place on at least some routes.

The MTA board voted 9 to 0 to issue a series of safety directives to Metrolink. The MTA also said it would try to find $5 million to use toward securing an automatic train stop system for Metrolink while seeking $97 million in rail safety money that may be available from the state.

In addition, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill on Thursday that would allow voters in Los Angeles County to consider a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for more mass transit and road improvements. Metrolink could receive as much as $1.2 billion over the 30-year life of the tax hike.

To expand the existing automatic braking system, Metrolink would need permission from the Federal Railroad Administration. In his testimony, Solow indicated that railroad agency chief Joseph Boardman had told him the agency would give its approval.

Another problem is that about a third of Metrolink's routes -- totaling more than 100 miles of track -- are on tracks owned by freight lines.

"We have at this point no way to obligate the freight railroads to do anything," said Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca. (The federal safety law, however, would eventually require all freight trains to have positive train control systems if they carry hazardous materials.)

Also on Thursday, California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey made "an urgent request" for the Federal Railroad Administration to issue rules requiring automatic train stopping devices on all California tracks shared by freight and commuter trains.

The proposal to put two engineers in each cab was not discussed Thursday, but could also prove troublesome for Metrolink. "There isn't in the industry this pool of engineers looking for work," Oaxaca said.

John Tolman, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union, said that two sets of eyes are better than one. "When you get on a commercial airplane, there's always a pilot and a co-pilot," he said. "Would you feel OK if there was just a pilot?"

There is another reason that Metrolink may have to hire more engineers in the future in any event: the rail safety bill before Congress cuts the number of hours that freight crews could work each month to 276 and requires the Federal Railroad Administration to draw up a similar rule for passenger train crews.

It's an important issue for Metrolink because its engineers often work split-shifts that equal more hours. Some could see their pay reduced.

Tolman said that although his organization has taken no formal position on the federal bill, he believes the 276-hour limit is arbitrary. He said there was "no scientific evidence" to show that limit would effectively reduce fatigue, which federal officials say frequently is a factor in rail accidents.

MTA board member and L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky also asked Metrolink officials to put seat belts in the trains to prevent injuries and deaths when people are thrown in a crash. "This is a no-brainer," he said. "I would really ask you to open not just your mind and pocketbook but your heart, your collective heart, to doing this. . . . This is the quickest thing that you can do."

Solow said that he would consult federal studies on the issue. He also said that new cab cars that Metrolink is ordering would have seats that only face backward when the cab car is leading the train.

"Everything is on the table. It's simply not acceptable to wait until 2015," as allowed by the federal rail bill, "for an automatic train-stopping system," Keith Millhouse, Metrolink vice chairman, told the MTA board. "The bottom line is if there's anything that can be done in the interim I want it analyzed, I want it looked at and I want our experts telling us if it should be done."

The Metrolink board is scheduled to begin considering the proposals at its meeting at 10 a.m. today in Los Angeles. Villaraigosa implied Thursday that he was going to use his bully pulpit as mayor to keep the pressure on.

"We expect that just as there was unanimity on the MTA board," Villaraigosa said after the meeting, "there will be a consensus in the region that we need to move as quickly as possible to implement measures now to protect public safety."

Asked when he expected Metrolink to act, Villaraigosa replied: "Beginning tomorrow."

[e-mail]

Times staff writers Rich Connell and Robert J. Lopez contributed to this report from Los Angeles and Cynthia Dizikes contributed from Washington.

[Gokhan]

The bill now goes to the Senate. It will also reauthorize Amtrak for five years with $13 billion and encourage high-speed rail. So, this is good news. And, thank God, the timing is perfect because we never really knew what the new president could have done with Amtrak.

Sep 24, 8:29 PM EDT

House passes rail safety bill

By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Spurred by the recent train crash that killed 25 people in Los Angeles, the House passed sweeping rail safety legislation Wednesday requiring more rest for workers and technology that can stop a train in its tracks if it's headed for collision.

At least one of the measures could have made a difference in the Sept. 12 head-on collision between a freight train and a commuter train - the nation's deadliest rail crash since 1993.

Lawmakers scurried to reach agreement on the safety bill in the wake of the disaster, which happened when a Southern California Metrolink commuter train failed to stop at a red light and ended up on the same track as an oncoming freight.

"I'm heartened that we're considering this bill now and I hope it's offering some small degree of comfort to the families that are suffering after the recent Metrolink disaster in California," said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., before the House passed the legislation by voice vote.

It now goes to the Senate, where prospects for passage are uncertain in the dwindling legislative hours before Congress adjourns for the election at the end of this week.

Investigators are looking at engineer fatigue as a possible factor in the Metrolink crash, and the Federal Railroad Administration says that so-called positive train control technology would have prevented the crash.

The technology can engage the brakes if a train misses a signal or gets off-track. The bill requires it to be installed by 2015 on all rail lines that carry passengers and on freight lines that carry hazardous materials.

That date may be too soon for the railroad industry, which says it supports positive train control but opposed a congressionally mandated timeline, but not soon enough for some lawmakers eager to move quickly on safety in the wake of the L.A. crash.

The package wraps in legislation reauthorizing Amtrak for five years and providing $13 billion for the carrier. Some of that money would go to matching grants to help states set up or expand rail service.

The Amtrak portion of the legislation also establishes a program for private companies to bid to develop high-speed rail corridors on the East Coast, a private sector component pushed by Republicans who have been wary of what they've seen as ever-growing subsidies to Amtrak.

Amtrak's previous authorization expired in 2002. The carrier's supporters say a new authorization will allow Amtrak to make long-range plans and take advantage of what they say is a growing appetite for passenger rail.

"As Amtrak ridership continues to hit record levels, our bill gives passenger rail the resources it needs to meet the nation's increased demands," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. Lautenberg authored the Senate versions of the rail safety and Amtrak bills, both of which had previously passed the House and Senate by wide margins. Lawmakers hadn't reached agreement on final package until late Tuesday.

The rail safety portion amounts to the first major rail safety reforms since the 1994 Federal Railroad Safety Authorization Act, which expired in 1998, leaving the Federal Railroad Administration operating under an expired law for the past 10 years.

The bill that passed Tuesday reauthorizes the railroad administration through 2013 and provides $1.6 billion for rail safety programs during that time.

A key provision is the requirement for installation of positive train control, but Tom White, a spokesman for the American Association of Railroads, said he wasn't sure the 2015 deadline was obtainable.

"When you're dealing with new technology that hasn't in some cases been developed yet, it's very hard to say that a specific deadline is doable," White said. "Having said that, we're going to move forward as swiftly as we can."

The package would cap the monthly hours train crews can work at 276. An outdated law that currently governs train crew hours allows them to work more than 400 hours per month, compared to 100 hours per month for commercial airline pilots.

---

Associated Press writer Sarah Karush contributed to this report.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Transit Coalition]

Now Metrolink admits their trains do have the automatic train-stop system installed. But it turns out that their tracks don't. It's like having a television but not having cable or satellite. It's so bizarre. Go figure. I guess it's lack of agency control over the railroads and, of course, lack of funding by the government.

Why do you use terms like "admit"? I saw David Solow testify and Steve Hymon was sitting next to me, so I know what he said first hand.

Solow was answering a question about a section of the Metrolink tracks that was purchased from ATSF back in the early 1990's by Orange County Transportation Authority for future use by Metrolink. This section of the track has legacy "state of the art 1949" ATS or Automatic Train Stop technology. Yes, Metrolink has all of it's 35 locomotives equiped with ATS, as they run on this section of Orange County track.

This old technology costs about $50,000 per switch and there is only one company left that even manufactures these devices. Metrolink testified that should Metro fund the purchase of the technology, Metrolink would begin installing it based upon receiving a Federal Railroad Administration waver and getting some funding from Metro and finding out if the technology can be purchased and what the current price would be. That is why you see the $5 million mentioned.

Just a bit later, dear Gloria Molina started to put the breaks on this posssible purchase saying she wondered why Metro should have to pay for this technology. She was told that 50% of Metrolink funding comes from Metro, based on a 5 county allocation formula and then she started arguing that the other Metrolink counties should be paying for the ATS. She was then told that the other counties would contribute their pro rata share, but that wasn't good enough, as Gloria started up with the equity argument. It didn't matter to her that both deadly accidents that killed the most amount of people and some of the other bad wrecks such as the one at Buena Vista were all in Los Angeles County.

But, Gloria Molina isn't one to let facts get in the way of some of her more outrageous opinions, which has some basis in truth, but are generally 97% incorrect.

OK, so for many years that I've been tracking Metrolink, it has been fully ignored by Metro and completely ignored by the current Mayor. Sadly, it takes a tragic accident to get some of the political attention. And now the Metro board is willing to spend time and money to make Metrolink safer.

Some of the ideas they are suggesting are a huge waste of money. For example, they want to put a second person in the cab. The problem is that two people will start talking to each other and may not pay full attention to operations. Amtrak had just such an accident last year with three crew members in the cab, but no one was paying attention and all three died in another tragic accident. Simply put, if both the engineer and the conduction were actually paying full attention to the dispatcher and the requirement that all signals be called out, there is a chance, probably pretty strong, that this accident would not have happened. But until NSTB reports, this comment is pure speculation.

I think everyone on this board has seen County Sheriff's chatting in groups of two, three or four, instead of keeping out a watchful eye. How do you get people to do their jobs?

[Gokhan]

Sept 25, 2008 21:13:02 GMT -8 Transit Coalition said:

Why do you use terms like "admit"?

It's just semantics. I'm not trying to put guilt on them or anything.

[kenalpern]

Bart is absolutely correct in his analysis, but for political reasons the Metro Board needs to do a few things to both get Prop. R passed and to get the political cover it needs.

[Gokhan]

Sept 25, 2008 21:13:02 GMT -8 Transit Coalition said:

Just a bit later, dear Gloria Molina started to put the breaks on this posssible purchase saying she wondered why Metro should have to pay for this technology.

Ah, Dear Gloria, she has been such an obstacle for rail transit. I think she should serve as the Chair of BRU. She also reminds me of Damien. BRU, Gloria, Damien, and similar others have one thing in common: they don't care about rail transit at all but they only use it in a negative way to promote their own agenda.

[Gokhan]

A simple switch and transmitter shouldn't cost $30 thousand. But that's what happens when there is only one company making it. And read the last paragraph about Ms. Molina. She should join Fix Expo in campaigning against the half-penny tax if she hasn't done so already. It's the same negative mentality. As if we don't need this money to build transit and families in low-income communities can't afford less than a dime a day of extra tax.

50s-era train-safety system urged for Metrolink
By Sue Doyle, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 09/26/2008 12:09:40 AM PDT

Less than two weeks after the Chatsworth Metrolink crash that killed 25 people, the MTA board on Thursday unanimously approved safety measures it wants the commuter rail agency to also adopt to prevent a similar tragedy.

Recommendations call for the installation of 1950s-era hardware, known as automatic train stop, along Metrolink tracks that can slow trains down to a halt when engineers fail to respond to certain signals on the tracks - like the engineer in the Chatsworth crash, who ignored a red light before the head-on collision with a freight train.

Calls to implement the older technology come as federal legislators are pushing for innovative safeguards on tracks nationwide - known as positive train controls - that are still in a testing phase and not available for Metrolink's rails, which stretch 388 miles across five counties.

"It will not eliminate crashes," Richard Katz, a board member for both the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Metrolink, said of the automatic train-stop technology. "It's better than nothing. We have to buy the technology and put it on the tracks."

The MTA board also wants to add a second engineer to every train and install video cameras and digital recorders in locomotive cabs. The ideas serve as a recommendation to the Metrolink board, since they are separate agencies. The Metrolink board will meet todaycq.

The push to improve rail safety stems from the Sept. 12 collision in Chatsworth between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train, which also injured 135 people. Both trains were traveling about 42 mph.

It's unknown why the Metrolink engineer didn't stop at the red light, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

Automatic train-stop technology involves two pieces of hardware - one attached outside locomotives and lead passenger cars and another, called the inductor, that sits along the track about 100 feet from each signal.

Each time the train passes an inductor, there's a signal the engineer must respond to by pressing a handle inside the control cab.

If the engineer doesn't respond within eight seconds, the brakes are automatically applied and the train gradually slows. It takes a train one-third of a mile to stop.

"In certain instances, it would slow down the train," David Solow, Metrolink's CEO, told the Metro board Thursday. "That's better than the train not being slowed down."

Only one manufacturer in the United States still makes automatic train-stop technologies, and each inductor costs up to $30,000, Solow said.

Metrolink locomotives already are equipped with automatic train-stop technology, but only one stretch of its tracks, between Santa Ana and Oceanside, has the infrastructure built in.

The technology was installed there by an earlier rail agency that owned the tracks before Metrolink bought them in the 1990s and accommodates trains traveling traveling up to 79 mph.

Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said its locomotives were fitted with the technology because they are used interchangeably on all its tracks.

But the infrastructure for automatic train stops was not installed on any more of Metrolink's tracks because it's an old technology. If inductors are stolen or damaged, for example, there's no warning to the locomotives, Oaxaca said.

"It's not being installed in any other place in the country," he said. "For us to look at a 1950 s technology - it's hard to justify."

A federal bill approved Wednesday by the House of Representatives and awaiting a Senate vote would force railroads with lines carrying passengers and hazardous materials to install by 2015 positive train control technology.

California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pushed for the legislation days after the Chatsworth catastrophe.

"It's unfortunate that it takes 25 people dying before the feds stepped in. When it comes to bailing out Wall Street, they have a billion-dollar answer in 48 hours," he Katz said, referring to the Bush administration's $700 billion proposal to bail out financial firms and offload bad debt.

It's estimated to cost $2 billion to install positive safety controls on rails across the country, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Metro officials estimate that it would cost $4.3 million to implement positive safety controls on the county's 186 miles of rails.

County Supervisor Gloria Molina on Thursday pushed the board to redirect the remaining $3 million of a $4.2 million public campaign in support of a half-percent sales tax toward the implementation of positive safety controls.

"We could fund that safety measure right now," she said.

The board rejected Molina's idea in a 7-2 vote.

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[jejozwik]

thats great, she would rather have 3 million, then to invest that for 1.18 billion.

does this woman have noodles for brains?

[bluelineshawn]

Sept 26, 2008 12:58:53 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Sept 25, 2008 21:13:02 GMT -8 Transit Coalition said:

Just a bit later, dear Gloria Molina started to put the breaks on this posssible purchase saying she wondered why Metro should have to pay for this technology.

Ah, Dear Gloria, she has been such an obstacle for rail transit. I think she should serve as the Chair of BRU. She also reminds me of Damien. BRU, Gloria, Damien, and similar others have one thing in common: they don't care about rail transit at all but they only use it in a negative way to promote their own agenda.

Well, obviously the BRU is anti-rail, but you can't put those three in the same category. And what Damien has demonstrated is that he cares more about people than he cares about rail. You can spend 5 minutes reading the Expo thread and see how that thought process goes against the predominant opinion on this forum. Any mention of safety gets the most ridiculous responses about people being stupid or that Damien must think that people are stupid etc.

[spokker]

Sept 27, 2008 7:16:57 GMT -8 bluelineshawn said:

Any mention of safety gets the most ridiculous responses about people being stupid or that Damien must think that people are stupid etc.

I feel safer navigating the Blue Line stations than any road intersection. I'm not scared of the Blue Line trains running me over, I'm scared of cars running me over.

I don't cross the street at an intersection unless I am able to make eye contact with drivers making right hand turns. It's amazing how people making right hand turns look to their left for oncoming cars and fail to look to their right (in my direction) for any pedestrians waiting to cross. If I didn't have a policy of making eye contact with drivers I would have been run over countless times already.

Many people floor it when they get an opportunity to turn, even if the crosswalk is showing WALK. The light turns green and the walk sign turns to WALK. Car floors it. Many don't wait for me to even step off the curb.

It's scary being a pedestrian, and it's not because of trains. So when someone gets run over by a vehicle that's on a fixed guideway, it's kind of hard to feel sorry for them.

[Gokhan]

I think this is a better utilization of the extra engineers than to collect fares etc.

Metrolink adding second engineer to some trains

Relief engineers will ride shotgun on some routes, in a move intended as an interim safety measure.
By Jeff Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 27, 2008

Under new pressure to swiftly increase safety measures, Metrolink will begin adding a second engineer to some of its commuter trains in the first visible reform since a deadly crash in Chatsworth.

Chief Executive David R. Solow made the announcement Friday at a meeting of Metrolink's Board of Directors.

He said the backup engineers will come from a pool of employees normally used to replace primary engineers who are on vacation, sick or out on training. Previously, when those employees were not running trains, they performed administrative work or collected fares.

There are 10 to 15 relief engineers available each day, Solow said, but the number riding shotgun would change, depending on how many already were filling in for colleagues.

"It's just an interim measure until we can find something permanent," he said in an interview. "We're going to use them as much as we can as another set of eyes."

The backup engineers will be posted on routes near where they are usually assigned, places such as San Bernardino, Moorpark, Oceanside and Lancaster.

"We may have to make some changes over time," Solow said.

The Metrolink chief said he was not sure if a train with two engineers had taken to the rails under the new measure. A Metrolink spokesman who said he would provide the information did not get back to The Times.

Metrolink's board also asked for an audit of how the agency operates overall, "a critical analysis, what is working, what needs improvement," said Vice Chairman Keith Millhouse, who is also a Moorpark city councilman.

The move toward two engineers comes after a Metrolink train failed to heed a warning light on Sept. 12 and crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth. Twenty-five people died and 135 were injured in the most deadly commuter rail accident in modern California history.

Although the accident remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, early indications are that human error caused the crash.

Since the collision, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and several other members of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- Metrolink's largest local financial backer -- have pushed the regional commuter railroad to add safety measures, such as automatic braking devices and a video camera to monitor locomotive crews.

MTA members also had urged Metrolink to add a second engineer to its cabs. Earlier this week, after Metrolink board Chairman Ron Roberts said at a U.S. Senate hearing that the agency was considering the proposal, officials at Metrolink headquarters in Los Angeles downplayed the possibility.

Asked Friday why he had decided on the extra engineer, Solow mentioned the hearings held by California's Democratic U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and the MTA.

"People think this may be a possible way to ensure that the engineers are concentrating on what's going on," he said. "Whether it's the right solution over time, we'll have to see. It's an action we can take immediately with whatever qualified personnel we have."

In addition, Solow said, the commuter railroad has increased its on-board testing of engineers. Already, 2,000 of these tests had been taking place each month, Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said.

Solow also told the board that Metrolink officials would be meeting next week with Wabtec Railway Electronics Corp., which manufactures a positive train-control system -- a type of anti-collision technology -- being tested on the Rock Island Line in Illinois.

A rail safety bill the House of Representatives passed this week requires railroads to equip their trains with positive train-control systems by 2015. Solow said that although the systems are in the testing phase, he hopes there are actions Metrolink can take to speed up the eventual implementation on its trains. The measure is pending in the Senate.

At Friday's meeting, Metrolink directors hammered at the Federal Railroad Administration for not being tough enough on railroads. They were led by MTA board member Richard Katz, whom Villaraigosa appointed to also serve on the Metrolink board in the wake of the Chatsworth crash.

"Unfortunately, it took 25 deaths for the FRA to become more active and aggressive in pushing safety features," Katz said. "They've been far too cozy with the railroads. . . . We really feel that the Federal Railroad Administration needs to step up."

The Metrolink board unanimously passed a wide-ranging measure aimed at increasing safety, similar to one the MTA passed a day earlier. Among the items included were appointing a panel of experts to recommend safety improvements; equipping cabs with video cameras as soon as possible; and installing devices to slow or halt trains when a warning signal is not heeded. These devices are already used on 30 miles of Metrolink track in Orange County, though the system is dated. Metrolink has a total of 388 miles of track.

One additional reform is that Metrolink will now perform background checks on engineers before they're hired. Until now, Veolia Transportation, which has contracted with Metrolink since 2005 to supply engineers, has done the background checks.

Robert M. Sanchez, the engineer who was operating the Metrolink train that crashed and who died in the collision, had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor shoplifting in 2002. His attorney said he had paid a fine and spent 90 days in jail on weekends.

Veolia policy is that anyone who has been convicted of a felony within seven years cannot be hired. Someone who has committed a misdemeanor during that period can be hired, depending on how the crime relates to the job.

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[Gokhan]

From the evidence I've read so far, I am suspecting that the Metrolink engineer had a mental breakdown and committed suicide, unable to think about the consequences of his actions. But we may never find out what actually happened. Meanwhile, the UP brakeman sues.

Sep 27, 7:38 AM EDT

Freight brakeman in deadly LA train collision sues

By RAQUEL MARIA DILLON
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The brakeman on the freight train involved in a deadly collision with a commuter train filed a lawsuit Friday against the commuter railroad and the companies that provide its engineers.

The lawsuit, filed by Dominick Fravola and his wife, blames the defendants for not properly screening, supervising and training the Metrolink engineer who ran his commuter train past a red signal on Sept. 12 and collided with a Union Pacific freight train. Twenty-five people died in the crash, the nation's deadliest train accident since 1993.

"Basically the guy was asleep at the switch and not paying attention to what was going on around him," Fravola's attorney, Barry Novack, said of the Metrolink engineer, who was killed in the crash.

The lawsuit also names Veolia Transportation and its subsidiary, Connex Railroad, which employs the Metrolink engineers. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages, medical and psychological expenses and loss of income. Fravola's wife also seeks damages for loss of consortium.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants knew the tracks presented risks but "allowed a dangerous, defective and unsafe condition to exist." Novack said the red and yellow signals near the station were not positioned to allow engineers to see them, which led to the crash.

The trains collided at a curve in the track near where a tunnel separates the Chatsworth area of Los Angeles from Simi Valley and Moorpark in Ventura County. Federal investigators have said the engineers had only seconds to brake before the other train came into view.

Novack said his client, who was in the second engine, braced himself after the emergency brakes were applied but suffered a puncture wound, concussion and psychological trauma.

Investigators have said the Metrolink train did not apply its brakes and have confirmed its engineer was test messaging on duty that day - though it remains unclear whether that was a factor in the crash.

Novack said he also filed a claim against the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the tracks, but that agency has not responded. He said Metrolink and Veolia denied the claim he filed against them, allowing him to file the lawsuit.

Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca and Veolia spokeswoman Ruth Otte declined to comment.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[bluelineshawn]

Sept 27, 2008 18:34:52 GMT -8 spokker said:

Sept 27, 2008 7:16:57 GMT -8 bluelineshawn said:

Any mention of safety gets the most ridiculous responses about people being stupid or that Damien must think that people are stupid etc.

I feel safer navigating the Blue Line stations than any road intersection. I'm not scared of the Blue Line trains running me over, I'm scared of cars running me over.

...

It's scary being a pedestrian, and it's not because of trains. So when someone gets run over by a vehicle that's on a fixed guideway, it's kind of hard to feel sorry for them.

I agree, but having dangerous roads has nothing to do with making our trains safer. They're two separate issues.

It's possible that your inability to empathize with accident victims has allowed you to conclude that people are just going to get killed and that's an acceptable price to pay for having rail, but what about the train operator/engineer? What about the passengers that are delayed. What about the money spent to settle lawsuits?

I don't really have a problem with at-grade rail but LACMTA and Metrolink, despite very good efforts, have not been able to solve the problems that our drivers and pedestrians are having with dealing with trains at crossings. They've tried education, more barriers, billboards, electronic signs, etc. but it hasn't worked. Unfortunately I don't have much confidence that it will work any better on Expo.