Metrolink News/Alerts

[spokker]

The ideal would be grade separation everywhere, but not because trains are inherently unsafe, but to keep the train line running smoothly and efficiently.

[Gokhan]

Considering how unsafe automobile traffic already is and how expensive grade separation is, you get minimal overall increase in transit safety for a lot of money spent.

Also, grade separation has disadvantages such as more difficult station access, encouraging driving over public transit or encouraging overdevelopment, preventing future modifications to the rail line, etc. But this is not to say that it shouldn't be used where it is really needed by justifiable criteria but not because someone says let's grade-separate everything or let's below-grade everything.

[Gokhan]

So far so good. One more vote to go and then starts a railvolution. Thank God the financial mess doesn't seem to be affecting this. The vote was overwhelmingly aye.

Sep 29, 1:41 PM EDT

Rail safety bill advances in Senate

By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A sweeping rail safety reform bill that includes billions of dollars for Amtrak cleared a key vote in the Senate Monday, as lawmakers invoked the Sept. 12 train collision in Los Angeles that killed 25 people.

Senators voted 69-17 to proceed to a final vote on the bill, which requires more rest for workers and technology that can stop a train in its tracks if it's headed for collision.

The vote on final passage will happen Wednesday, said Majority Leader Harry Reid. The House passed the bill last week so the expected Senate approval would send the legislation to President Bush for his signature.

Safety technology mandated by the legislation would have prevented the disaster in Los Angeles, the Federal Railroad Administration has said.

"Too often it takes a catastrophe to get people around here to focus on severe gaps in our laws," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, who authored the measure. "We want to make sure that these things don't happen again."

The bill caps the hours per week rail crews can work, adds 200 new safety inspectors for the Federal Railroad Administration and requires the installation by 2015 of technology that can put the brakes on a train if it runs a red light or gets off track.

The collision in Los Angeles happened when a Metrolink commuter train failed to stop at a red light and ended up on the same track as an oncoming freight.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement Monday noting that the Federal Railroad Administration has been operating under an expired law for 10 years because Congress has failed to act.

"The 25 tragic deaths suffered earlier this month in Chatsworth, Calif., is proof that the time has come to act again," Schwarzenegger said.

The bill also reauthorizes Amtrak for five years and gives the carrier $13 billion. There's a new initiative to encourage private sector development of high-speed rail corridors, $2 billion in grants to states for rail projects and money for Washington, D.C.'s metro system.

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.

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

[Gokhan]

Robert Sanchez grew up next to the Exposition Boulevard railroad right-of-way in Santa Monica, fascinated by the Southern Pacific trains and counting the cars on every one of them, which were in service until 1987. That's how he became a railfan and later an engineer. His sad ending still makes no sense.

Engineer's family shoulders profound grief from train wreck

Relatives mourn Robert Sanchez and the 24 other victims of the Metrolink crash and fear that authorities have been too quick to blame him.
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 30, 2008

At 11:30 on the morning of Sept. 19, some 60 engineers and conductors gathered at a modest La Crescenta house. They had come to memorialize Robert Sanchez, the engineer killed a week earlier when the Metrolink train he was driving collided with a Union Pacific freight train.

The service was supposed to have been held at a mortuary, but after reporters learned of the arrangements, the family hastily moved the memorial to Sanchez's home, hoping for the chance to gather privately with his former co-workers.

Since their arrival in California, their grief had been made much more difficult by a crush of media attention. They were accosted at every turn, and the pressure grew more intense after Metrolink announced -- far too quickly, in the family's eyes -- that Sanchez had failed to stop at a red signal and caused the crash.

The mourners came bearing pizzas, sodas and cakes. One brought a flower arrangement in the shape of a cross, which Sanchez's family placed far from the window for fear that someone might throw a brick. Three Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies stood guard outside.

A minister from Sanchez's union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, spoke. His co-workers recalled trading recipes with Sanchez and accompanying him to Mighty Ducks and Kings games. They told the family they would help find homes for Sanchez's four Italian greyhounds.

At 4:30, John Sanchez was in the kitchen saying goodbye to the guests when a man from the mortuary arrived with Robert's remains.

"He walked through the alley, the back gate, the back door and handed me Robert in a paper bag," Sanchez said.

'I want vindication'

In the first interview he has given since the crash, John Sanchez told a Times reporter he is worried that his brother's reputation is being destroyed and said he wants a more thorough investigation into whether Metrolink signal lights, radios and other safety equipment were functioning.



John P. Sanchez holds a photograph of his brother, Metrolink engineer Robert M. Sanchez, who was killed in the deadly Sept. 12 crash. -- Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times

Sanchez said he and his family ache not only for their own loss but for the families of the 24 others who died in the crash. "There were no words to explain the magnitude of loss and what was in our hearts," he said. "We do care. We are sorry.

"I want vindication, justice and truth to be known by the 25 families," Sanchez added.

The last time Robert Sanchez visited his family, a little less than a year ago, he said he loved his Metrolink job despite a 53-hour-a-week, split-shift schedule that left him constantly tired. "When I get on a train, I forget everything and I'm focused," his mother said he told her.

"He was mostly happy when he was on a train," she added, "That was his whole life."

When he called the family in late July, however, Robert Sanchez was upset because his train had struck and killed a pedestrian July 23. It was the second time in recent years, he told them, that a man had stepped in front of his train to commit suicide.

John Sanchez said the incidents may have been particularly upsetting because his brother was still recovering from the suicide of his partner, Daniel Charles Burton, who hanged himself in the garage of their home in Crestline on Valentine's Day, 2003.

Robert Sanchez told his family that after the initial investigation of the incident, he asked supervisors for time off and counseling but had been required to return to work before he was ready.

Ruth Otte, a spokeswoman for Veolia Transportation, the Oak Brook, Ill., company that supplies Metrolink engineers, confirmed that the July incident occurred, but said she could not comment about whether Sanchez requested time off. Engineers are entitled to counseling and at least three days off with pay after such incidents, another Veolia spokeswoman, Erica Swerdlow, said.

Metrolink General Manager Tommy McDonald did not return phone calls Monday to his home and office seeking comment. Metrolink staff members said they have been instructed to refer questions about the crash investigation to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Safety board spokesman Terry Williams said he could not answer questions about Sanchez, citing the federal investigation, and a union representative said Sanchez had not filed a complaint on the July matter.

"We will look at any requests he may have made for time off," Williams said. "We are still in the fact-gathering stages."

As recently as several weeks ago, Sanchez's employer praised his job performance. In a Sept. 3 letter, Sanchez was notified that he would be receiving an employee incentive award bonus check.

"The measurements to receive your award include safety and rules compliance, exemplary attendance and other performance factors that contribute to the success of this operation," McDonald wrote.

Fascinated by trains

Robert Sanchez, who was 46 at the time of his death, was the youngest of four sons born to Rose and John Sanchez, who both worked in manufacturing.

As a child growing up in Santa Monica, Robert counted the cars on every passing train, his brother said.

Once, at the age of 7, he disappeared from the family car, where he was supposed to wait while his mother ran an errand. She found him at some nearby railroad tracks, fascinated by an idling train.

"The engineer had him up in the cab and let him blow the whistle," John Sanchez said. "That was it. He was hooked."

When Robert Sanchez was 12, his family moved out of state, where he was active in 4-H and the Future Farmers of America.

His love of trains continued, and he often visited a nearby rail yard.

After graduating from high school, he settled in San Diego for a time, driving Greyhound buses before he was hired by the railroads.

He started as a maintenance worker at Union Pacific and worked his way up to "the chair," becoming an engineer in the late 1990s, his family said. Soon after, he began working as an Amtrak engineer in Southern California, records show.

John Sanchez said the family has not been contacted by the National Transportation Safety Board since the Sept. 12 crash, but said his brother's supervisor, McDonald, had called to ask if Robert had any medical conditions that would have caused him to pass out.

Sanchez told McDonald that his brother had adult-onset diabetes but had never complained of complications. He said McDonald urged him to consent to a second autopsy at a cost of about $3,000 that would be paid by Metrolink. The family agreed.

"We just wanted the answer, whatever it took to clear his name," Sanchez said.

Avoiding the media

Sanchez said he still hasn't recovered from the shock of his brother's sudden death.

He was watching cable news on the afternoon of Sept. 12 when the first report of the Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth scrolled across the screen.

By 6 p.m., after seeing the mangled cab and learning that the train was the one his brother usually drove, Sanchez was convinced his brother was dead.

He realized he could not protect his 81-year-old mother from news of the crash.

That evening, he took her hand as he had at his father's funeral the year before.

"Be ready mom," Sanchez said he told her, "be ready for the worst you can ever imagine."

At 6:20 the next morning, he said, official word came. Robert Sanchez was dead. John Sanchez and his mother already had their bags packed, and they began the long drive to Los Angeles.

On Monday, Sanchez returned to his out-of-state home.

He asked that The Times not disclose where he lives, hoping to protect his elderly mother from more media attention.

He said he knows what to do with his brother's ashes.

Last year, after their father died, the Sanchez brothers talked about their own wishes of what should be done when they died.

Robert asked that his ashes be scattered on the railroad tracks.

[e-mail]

[Gokhan]

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, the Exposition tracks to Santa Monica have grown the biggest railfans, even including Robert Sanchez himself, and the biggest NIMBYs as well (some Cheviot Hills - Neighbors for Smart Rail and South LA - Expo Communities United folks), but since the tracks are now defunct, at least for the next two years, the activity of railfans are centered at the Fullerton Station. Here is all about railfans in Southern California.

COLUMN ONE

Train hobbyists are loco for that motion

Studying, videotaping, riding -- 'foamers' are crazy about trains. After the Metrolink crash, some wonder if their fervor goes too far.
By Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 1, 2008

It's another Friday night at the Fullerton train station, which is full of the usual types: commuters with briefcases, people sprinting over a bridge because they found themselves on the wrong side of the tracks, families struggling with suitcases.

At one end, a group of men has gathered. Few ever pay them much mind, but the longer you look, the more they stick out, because they have been at the train station for a very long time, though they have nowhere to go.

They are members of a network of railroad fanatics -- hobbyists who study trains, photograph trains, videotape trains and ride trains, all with a fervor that makes birders, ham radio operators and the like seem like laggards.

Dropping in here helps one understand a confounding issue raised by the Sept. 12 Metrolink crash: why a group of teenagers had been exchanging text messages that day with engineer Robert M. Sanchez.

It turns out that the teens were fledging members of this network, a world that is virtually unknown except among the enthusiasts themselves and the engineers who offer them a tired wave at the station. But there are hundreds of thousands of them -- across the United States, in India, Australia, Zimbabwe -- hobbyists who are known, variously, as railfans, cranks, trainspotters and gunzels.



Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times
Jeffrey Bass photographs a freight-train brakeman at the Fullerton train station. Bass is among avid rail fans who visit the station regularly to watch and take pictures of the trains. The Chatsworth crash -- and revelations that engineer Robert Sanchez was in contact with rail fans while on the job -– stirred an angry backlash against train hobbyists.

See the photo gallery

Watch the video

The most die-hard are known as foamers -- a term believed to have originated as an insult, used to describe people who get so excited at the sight of a train that they foam at the mouth.

Some refuse to use the word "foamer." (These are sensitive people and not without reason; in England, "trainspotting" is a euphemism for useless activity.) Others have appropriated the word for themselves, an exercise in a kind of geek pride.

Whatever they call themselves, they seem to speak in a foreign language -- of wigwags and hoggers, shooters and boomers, varnishes and highballs. Some speak elegantly of the rails' role in the development of the West. Many speak of trains with reverence, not as a means of transit but as a rolling metaphor. Train travel, they believe, fosters a sense of community and cooperation sorely missing in today's world -- certainly on the freeways of Southern California.

At its heart, the hobby has the simplest of foundations: the might and majesty of the machines themselves. The enthusiasts see what most do not: tons of steel ferrying businesspeople, toys from China, huge tanks of natural gas, all sharing the same space without incident -- except for those rare, terrible moments when the whole thing falls apart.

"The power is just so immense," said Scott Zechiel, a software engineer, standing on the Fullerton platform.

Behind him, train after train rumbled in, each its own beautiful mess, all bellowing engines and hissing brakes. The largest of the trains, typically the freights, cast off enough of a breeze that everyone's hair puffed up a bit as they passed.

"We like it when the ground shakes under our feet," Zechiel said. "We like the sounds, the screeches. We can't get enough of it. So we keep coming back."

In Southern California, Fullerton is foamer central.

The station is friendly to railfans -- which is not true of some others -- and is pleasant and comfortable, with shade canopies and cafes. But mostly it's about the traffic; some days 100 or more trains pass through, and it's an unusual blend of passenger trains and freights.

Most of the teens who knew Sanchez were Fullerton fixtures. They were often seen racing down the platform, cameras and tripods over their shoulders, to get the best shots of an oncoming train. Indeed, one of the first places several of the friends went after the crash was to the Fullerton station, where they could clear their heads and be with their own.

Zechiel, 44, is another regular. He bought his home in nearby Yorba Linda largely because it overlooks the tracks. Since 1997, with an informal group that calls itself the Fullerton Foamers and Foto Society, Zechiel has spent every Friday and Saturday night watching the trains. He figures he misses about four weekends a year, when he's sick or when he is traveling -- "which is, of course, by rail," he said.

On busy nights, there are five or six similar gatherings of railfans at the Fullerton station, sometimes as many as 50 railfans in all. Engineers have taken to calling it "Foamerton."

The FF&FS, as Zechiel's group is known, is tight-knit and well-organized. Members bring scanners to listen to conversations between engineers and conductors and a laptop programmed to replicate what dispatchers see at their desks. Many members are published photographers; during lulls between trains, they show slides of trains set to the music of Moby and U2.

Together, they make regular trips to the Cajon Pass, a popular gathering place for train lovers because of dramatic backdrops and track assemblies considered to be engineering feats. One trip, each January, is called "The Big Cajona"; they camp out with a luau theme.

"Basically, we sit around solving the world's problems and complaining about our jobs. Then a train comes, and everything stops. We all watch the train. Then the train passes on and we get back to it," said Jeffrey Bass, 48, who manages the parts department at a car dealership. "Everybody has their own interest. This is ours."

Rail enthusiasts have long had a delicate relationship with the industry.

"I kind of grew up with them," said Tom Dinger, a Southern Pacific and Amtrak engineer for 43 years, based in Southern California, before he retired two winters ago. "I think they're harmless. They just have deep affection for trains. It's kind of a strange phenomenon. But I never had a problem with them."

But there have been some aggressive railfans who have crossed the line -- trespassing to get a photo, for instance, even stealing pieces of equipment for souvenirs. Increasingly, railfans have become rail professionals themselves -- engineers, conductors, dispatchers -- which has become the source of considerable tension.

"There's been a kind of silent invasion," one Amtrak engineer said in an interview. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be "outed" as a railfan.

"I stay in the closet," he said. "I don't advertise too much that I'm a train buff, because I'll be lumped in with them, with the ones who aren't quite extremists but can't keep their interest sufficiently under wraps."

The Chatsworth crash -- and revelations that Sanchez was in contact with railfans while on the job -- caused a surprisingly caustic backlash against the hobbyists. On one website that is considered a must-read among engineers, an entry titled "The End of Foamers" was posted after the crash.

"This is a scary, high-stakes job where each and every one of us is at risk of being involved in a terrifying and catastrophic wreck. . . . Yet there are those people who act like they're running the Disneyland railroad or up on a stage," the post read. "If anything good is to come out of this awful week I hope it's the complete eradication of foamers from railroad property. . . . If you want to foam out, go to a railroad museum."

The rail companies have not figured out how to deal with railfans.

At times they have shunned them, as when officials erected an 8,500-foot-long fence to keep railfans away from the tracks near the Cajon summit.

On the other hand, Burlington Northern Santa Fe has begun a formal program that effectively deputizes railfans to keep an eye out for security threats. Some engineers have been encouraged to interact with younger railfans because they are seen as the future ranks of professionals, not to mention articulate lobbyists for the future of passenger rail -- a future that has not always looked bright.

The trend lines are on the railfans' side.

The hobby has exploded in recent years. There are railfanning magazines. You can download freight train ring tones. There are rail "cruises" on refurbished antique locomotives. There are hundreds of websites, on which hobbyists dissect the angle of a particular engine's exhaust flange or the letter that President Ford sent to Congress in 1974 while vetoing a federal railroad retirement benefits package.

Towns across the nation have discovered that although they are in the middle of nowhere -- perhaps because they are -- they have become popular railfanning destinations.

Rochelle, Ill., a town of 9,000 with a renowned freight crossing, built a park on an elevated piece of land where railfans can watch trains, complete with speakers broadcasting the transmissions of engineers and conductors. This summer, North Platte, Neb., opened a $4.5-million, 15-story-high platform where railfans can watch the action at the Bailey Yard, billed as the largest rail yard of its type in the world.

"We get people from every age group, from all walks of life. Everyone can make of it what they want," said Todd DeFeo, the Atlanta-based editor of www.railfanning.org, one of the more popular hobby websites. "It's a nice hobby."

[e-mail]

[spokker]

NTSB has released an update.

latimesblogs.latimes.com/bottleneck/2008/10/ntsb-engineers.html

The engineer was responsible for the operation of Metrolink train 111 from

3:03 pm until the time of the accident. During this time

period, the engineer's cellphone received 7 text messages

and sent 5 text messages. According to the time on the cell

phone provider's records, the last text message received by

the engineer's phone before the accident was at 4:21:03 pm,

and the last text message sent from the engineer's cell

phone was 4:22:01 pm.



A preliminary estimate for the time of the accident,

according to the Union Pacific train's onboard recorders, is

4:22:23 pm.

22 seconds before the crash? Come on. Is there really any doubt at this point? He also sent 24 text messages within 2 hours of operating a commuter train during his morning shift that day. Enough of this scumbag's family trying to save his reputation. I'm flabbergasted and I really don't know what else to say. I'm just done mincing words and I really don't care anymore.

[Gokhan]

I will fill in the blanks using simple kinematics calculations, also accounting for acceleration and deceleration:

4:20:36 Left the Chatsworth Station
4:21:03 Received text message
4:21:53 Ran the red light at CP Topanga
4:21:56 Ran through and broke the railroad switch
4:22:01 Clicked "Send" for the reply text he wrote
4:22:23 Crash

From the time sequence of events, this is looking more like texting caused this crash. In addition he sent 24 text messages during his morning shift and five while he was on the doomed train. This is just plain stupid, irresponsible behavior.

[fredcamino]

Oct 1, 2008 12:35:50 GMT -8 spokker said:

22 seconds before the crash? Come on. Is there really any doubt at this point? He also sent 24 text messages within 2 hours of operating a commuter train during his morning shift that day. Enough of this scumbag's family trying to save his reputation. I'm flabbergasted and I really don't know what else to say. I'm just done mincing words and I really don't care anymore.

This was obvious the moment the information about the engineer texting was released, and now the investigation supports what we all knew. This was not human error, it was human negligence. Plain and simple.

From the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos244.htm), job description for a locomotive engineer:

Locomotive Engineers operate large trains carrying cargo or passengers between stations. Most engineers run diesel-electric locomotives, although a few operate locomotives powered by battery or externally supplied electricity. Before each run, engineers check the mechanical condition of their locomotives, making any minor adjustments necessary and documenting issues that require more thorough inspection. While trains are in motion, engineers move controls such as throttles and airbrakes. They also monitor instruments that measure speed, amperage, battery charge, and air pressure, both in the brake lines and in the main reservoir. Engineers must have thorough knowledge of their routes and must be constantly aware of the condition and makeup of their train, because trains react differently to the grade and condition of the rail, the number of cars, the ratio of empty cars to loaded cars, and the amount of slack in the train.

So this guys job, while the train was in motion, was basically to pay attention. How many millions/billions should we spend to ensure professional train operators don't have to be burdened by the stress of paying attention on the job?

[spokker]

Oct 1, 2008 13:30:47 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

I will fill in the blanks using simple kinematics calculations, also accounting for acceleration and deceleration:

4:20:36 Left the Chatsworth Station
4:21:03 Received text message
4:21:53 Ran the red light at CP Topanga
4:21:56 Ran through and broke the railroad switch
4:22:01 Clicked "Send" for the reply text he wrote
4:22:23 Crash

From the time sequence of events, this is looking more like texting caused this crash. In addition he sent 24 text messages during his morning shift and five while he was on the doomed train. This is just plain stupid, irresponsible behavior.

If your calculations are accurate, there is no way this is a medical thing. Your conclusion that he may have run through the switch and THEN hit send is astounding.

Every day the plot seems to thicken on this thing.

[Gokhan]

Oct 1, 2008 18:22:52 GMT -8 spokker said:

If your calculations are accurate, there is no way this is a medical thing. Your conclusion that he may have run through the switch and THEN hit send is astounding.

The times I calculated for the CP Topanga red light and the railroad switch following it should be accurate within a couple of seconds. The time for the Chatsworth Station is less accurate because of the larger distance.

[Gokhan]

Rail-reform bill now goes to Bush. He should sign it given that the senate has also approved the bailout bill his administration has been pushing.

Oct 1, 9:44 PM EDT

Senate sends rail safety bill to Bush

By ANDREW TAYLOR
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A sweeping rail safety reform bill that envisions billions of dollars for Amtrak easily cleared the Senate Wednesday, its passage helped by the Sept. 12 train collision in Los Angeles that killed 25 people.

The bill, which passed by a 74-24 vote, now goes to President Bush, who has not indicated whether he'll sign it. The measure requires more rest for workers and technology that can stop a train in its tracks if it's headed for collision.

Such technology would have prevented the disaster in Los Angeles, the Federal Railroad Administration has said.

"What made this dreadful crash all the more tragic was that it might have been avoided," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the bill's author. The vote on the measure shows the determination of lawmakers to make sure this can't happen again, he said.

The bill caps the hours per week rail crews can work, and bars shifts longer than 12 hours. It adds 200 new safety inspectors for the Federal Railroad Administration and requires the installation by 2015 of technology that can put the brakes on a train if it runs a red light or gets off track.

The collision in Los Angeles happened when a Metrolink commuter train failed to stop at a red light and ended up on the same track as an oncoming freight.

So-called "positive train control" technology is now installed only on portions of the Northeast Corridor and the railroads have balked at a congressionally mandated timeline. The Association of American Railroads has suggested the 2015 deadline may not be doable.

The bill also calls for Amtrak to receive $13 billion over five years in subsidies, though Congress will have to separately approve the money year after year. There's a new initiative to encourage private sector development of high-speed rail corridors, $2 billion in grants to states for rail projects and money for Washington, D.C.'s metro system.

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.

Bush and Congress have wrangled over Amtrak subsidies for years. He has argued subsidies are excessive - the corporation spends about $3 for every $2 it takes in - but Amtrak runs trains through almost every state, which gives it great support among lawmakers, who have succeeded in restoring cuts proposed by Bush.

Wednesday's vote came hours after the National Transportation Safety Board reported that the engineer running the Metrolink train in L.A. sent a cell phone text message 22 seconds before the crash. The legislation requires a study on the effects of cell phone use in train cabs and gives the transportation secretary authority to ban it. Shortly after the bill passed the Federal Railroad Administration announced an emergency order prohibiting use of cell phones and other electronic devices by train operators.

The last time Congress passed major rail safety reforms was in 1994, but that measure expired in 1998, leaving the Federal Railroad Administration operating under an expired law for the past 10 years.

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

---

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

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

[Gokhan]

Steve Hymon et al. put the NTSB's release of the cell-phone records, my calculations, and other people's opinions together. Apparently he sent the text message eight seconds after the red light (five seconds after the railroad switch). The two trains saw each other for only about five seconds before the crash, after the nose of the UP train just emerged out of the tunnel and then cleared the retaining wall.

Metrolink engineer sent text message moments before fatal crash

In a preliminary finding, the NTSB says Robert M. Sanchez sent a message 22 seconds before his train hit a freight train in Chatsworth. Sanchez received or sent 57 messages while on duty Sept. 12.
By Robert J. Lopez, Rich Connell and Steve Hymon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 2, 2008

A Metrolink engineer sent a text message from his cellphone 22 seconds before he collided with an oncoming freight train in an accident that killed 25 people last month, according to preliminary information released Wednesday by federal authorities.

Engineer Robert M. Sanchez sent the message at 4:22 p.m., just before he slammed into the Union Pacific train Sept. 12 in Chatsworth, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement. He also received a message about a minute earlier, the agency said.

In all, Sanchez received or sent 57 text messages while on duty the day of the catastrophic collision.

The findings fill in key gaps regarding the moments before the crash and indicate that Sanchez was conscious and feeling well enough to text, even though the practice is strictly prohibited by Metrolink policy.

Officials didn't say whom Sanchez was messaging. A Metrolink official said an engineer on another commuter rail train was suspended for sending text messages about the time of the crash.

The safety board cautioned that additional research was necessary to develop a more complete picture. Determination of "the precise timing and correlation of these events is still underway," the NTSB said.

Two USC academics said Wednesday that judging by what is known about the train's speed after it left the Chatsworth station, the last text message would have been sent shortly after Sanchez passed a signal that should have warned him of the freight train.

But it remains to be conclusively determined whether Sanchez had left the station when he sent that message and how close he was to the point of impact.

NTSB spokesman Terry Williams said Wednesday that the agency would not comment beyond the preliminary information in the statement.

Rail experts said they were alarmed that Sanchez was operating his cellphone along a critical segment of the train's downtown L.A.-to-Ventura County run. The area, a mile north of the Chatsworth station, is where Metrolink trains must regularly stop so freight trains can pull off the main track onto a siding.

"For me, it just gives me heart palpitations thinking about it," said Tim Smith, a former train engineer and California chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the union that represented Sanchez. "The last thing you want to be doing is something that takes your eyes off the road."

Sanchez's brother, John, said he is still waiting for the NTSB and Metrolink to finish probing whether faulty safety equipment or interference with radio and cellphone communications contributed to the crash. He said the agency seemed more interested in trying to "reinforce what they've said in the past two weeks."

Federal investigators said Sanchez was supposed to stop at a red signal just before a switch mechanism intended to guide the Union Pacific train onto the sidetrack.

Instead, Sanchez barreled over the switch at 42 mph, bending it badly, before slamming into the southbound train on a sharp curve about a quarter-mile farther, according to federal investigators. They said Sanchez never hit his brakes.

The safety board said Wednesday that it was continuing to pore over other records at the agency laboratory in Washington, D.C., including computer data from the signal system and the Metrolink train's recorder boxes, which will be synchronized with the times of the text messages.

The data recorder information is critical, experts said, because it will allow investigators to pinpoint the train's location at different moments and show where Sanchez revved up and throttled down his engine.

Investigators have not said whether they think the text messages played any role in the crash or affected Sanchez's ability to operate the train. But the two USC academics calculated for The Times what may have happened just before the crash.

Using the NTSB figures that Sanchez's train was traveling 42 mph in the area from the red signal to the collision point and correlating the times of his text messaging, Najmedin Meshkati, a USC engineering professor and veteran transportation safety expert, estimated that the last text message would have been sent about five seconds after Sanchez sped past the signal.

Gokhan Esirgen, laboratory director for instructional physics at USC, also calculated that Sanchez would have sent the last message just after the light. He believes this timetable provided little or no time for Sanchez to react after he saw the oncoming train.

Even if Sanchez wasn't sending a text message at the exact moment of the crash, he may have had "inattention blindness," said David Strayer, a University of Utah psychology professor who's studied cellphone use's effect on motorists.

"If you're busy text messaging and you're taking a minute or so to key in a message, you're obviously not going to see the things that go by when you're looking at the keyboard and screen," said Strayer, adding that it often takes motorists five to 10 seconds to readjust their focus to the road.

The NTSB subpoenaed Sanchez's phone records after CBS radio and TV affiliates in L.A. reported that he had been exchanging text messages with teenage rail fans seconds before the crash. Sanchez sent 24 texts and received 21 while operating the train on his morning shift and sent five and got seven messages in the approximately 80 minutes he was responsible for train No. 111 from 3:03 p.m. until the crash at 4:22 p.m., according to the NTSB.

Metrolink board member Richard Katz said the agency's directors have been advised by staff that the second engineer who was suspended had been text messaging "at the same time" as Sanchez's accident.

He said Metrolink hasn't obtained detailed records of the text messaging histories of the two engineers, "but one theory that is being examined is they were texting each other."

A spokeswoman for Veolia Transportation, which employs all Metrolink engineers, said the firm could not comment on personnel matters but noted that it has a clear policy that prohibits engineers from even possessing a cellphone while operating a train.

Smith, of the engineers union, said he suspects freight and commuter railroad systems have "kind of been looking the other way" on cellphone use in locomotives. He said wireless phones provide an additional means of communication between train operators and dispatchers, who can be "bombarded" with radio traffic.

In the wake of the crash, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved sweeping new rail safety rules, which would require installation, by 2015, of technology that can stop passenger trains headed toward a collision. The legislation would also put a cap on the hours that freight railroad crews can work.

[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

Times staff writer Molly Hennessey-Fiske contributed to this report.

[jejozwik]

are there no cameras placed in the engineers cab?

there should be...

[Gokhan]

Oct 2, 2008 9:35:03 GMT -8 jejozwik said:

are there no cameras placed in the engineers cab?

there should be...

They had a dash cam only in the UP locomotive.

[Gokhan]

I was just talking to Professor Meshkati about the Metrolink crash. He said something very interesting. He had gone to the accident site and talked to the locals. The locals told him that the freight trains always used the main tracks (on the east side), usually speeding around 50 MPH downhill through the switch.

According to the news though, before the crash Metrolink train was on the main tracks and it was supposed to wait there and the UP train was supposed to pull to the siding (on the west side).

Now, the question (not a rhetorical one) is: What is the regular configuration for these two trains? Was there an unusual configuration at the time of the crash that Robert Sanchez was not familiar with it? Anyone knows? If this is the case, then it would definitely be a large contributing factor to the crash.

[Justin Walker]

Oct 2, 2008 11:06:04 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Now, the question (not a rhetorical one) is: What is the regular configuration for these two trains? Was there an unusual configuration at the time of the crash that Robert Sanchez was not familiar with it? Anyone knows? If this is the case, then it would definitely be a large contributing factor to the crash.

No. Nothing unusual. Adhering to CTC in one place is basically the same as adhering to it in another place. Red means stop. This was a simple meet at a siding on a single-track railroad. Engineers do thousands of these in their careers. Nothing unusual at all.

[Gokhan]

Oct 2, 2008 11:13:44 GMT -8 Justin Walker said:

Oct 2, 2008 11:06:04 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Now, the question (not a rhetorical one) is: What is the regular configuration for these two trains? Was there an unusual configuration at the time of the crash that Robert Sanchez was not familiar with it? Anyone knows? If this is the case, then it would definitely be a large contributing factor to the crash.

No. Nothing unusual. Adhering to CTC in one place is basically the same as adhering to it in another place. Red means stop. This was a simple meet at a siding on a single-track railroad. Engineers do thousands of these in their careers. Nothing unusual at all.

Very likely nothing unusual in the sense that the signals were set properly and correctly but the question is whether the exact same configuration is used everyday or it was a very unusual configuration with regard to where the Metrolink was supposed to wait and when the UP train was supposed to pass by etc.

[spokker]

You'd think that engineers would be off their cell phones and focused on the task at hand in order to deal with these "unusual configurations".

[Gokhan]

Oct 2, 2008 11:26:36 GMT -8 spokker said:

You'd think that engineers would be off their cell phones and focused on the task at hand in order to deal with these "unusual configurations".

Absolutely right. But the accidents almost never happen on a single factor alone. It's practically always the combination of at least two factors. And we are trying to determine what these two or more factors in this crash and their relative significance are.

[jejozwik]

Oct 2, 2008 9:39:25 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

They had a dash cam only in the UP locomotive.

dash cam, pointing at the track or monitoring the operators?
im talking about the latter

[Justin Walker]

Oct 2, 2008 11:20:18 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Very likely nothing unusual in the sense that the signals were set properly and correctly but the question is whether the exact same configuration is used everyday or it was a very unusual configuration with regard to where the Metrolink was supposed to wait and when the UP train was supposed to pass by etc.

What I mean is that all meets (and all operations on CTC, for that matter) follow the same basic procedure.

AND in addition to the procedure being standard, this specific meet (between the regularly-scheduled Lessdale and Metrolink #111) is a common occurrence on the line.

[Gokhan]

Oct 2, 2008 11:48:40 GMT -8 jejozwik said:

Oct 2, 2008 9:39:25 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

They had a dash cam only in the UP locomotive.

dash cam, pointing at the track or monitoring the operators?
im talking about the latter

I don't think they have any video monitoring of the crew in any transportation mode.

[Gokhan]

Oct 2, 2008 12:36:08 GMT -8 Justin Walker said:

Oct 2, 2008 11:20:18 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

Very likely nothing unusual in the sense that the signals were set properly and correctly but the question is whether the exact same configuration is used everyday or it was a very unusual configuration with regard to where the Metrolink was supposed to wait and when the UP train was supposed to pass by etc.

What I mean is that all meets (and all operations on CTC, for that matter) follow the same basic procedure.

AND in addition to the procedure being standard, this specific meet (between the regularly-scheduled Lessdale and Metrolink #111) is a common occurrence on the line.

So, if this is a common meet, then the only unusual occurence could be a problem with the signals, which is claimed to be ruled out by Metrolink and NTSB.

[jejozwik]

Oct 2, 2008 12:40:02 GMT -8 Gokhan said:

I don't think they have any video monitoring of the crew in any transportation mode.

seems like a good idea to me, seeing as one of there contractors was violating company policy while on the job. most likely others are too.
thats reason enough for most employers to add "security" cameras

[Gokhan]

The day after the NTSB finding about the texting, showing that Robert Sanchez was texting while he passed a red or green (see my next post) light at Control Point Topanga, FRA bans cell phones. Metrolink is to install video cameras to enforce the rule.

Oct 2, 11:16 PM EDT

Railroad regulators issue emergency cell phone ban

By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal regulators issued an emergency order Thursday banning use of cell phones and other electronic devices by rail workers, a day after investigators said a commuter-train engineer was text messaging moments before a deadly crash last month.

Violators could be fined or removed from their jobs under the Federal Railroad Administration rule, which comes as the National Transportation Safety Board investigates why Metrolink engineer Robert Sanchez ran through a red light and into a freight train, killing 25 people.

Preliminary evidence released Wednesday by the NTSB on the timing of the messages appears to rule out that he was unconscious at the time and could show that Sanchez, who was among the dead, was distracted at the time of the crash, experts said.

"They know what's probable, that he was distracted while sending a text message or getting ready to send one," said Ron Schleede, who retired from the NTSB after 28 years as an accident investigator. "He was not incapacitated, but he was also not alert and paying attention."

NTSB investigators have found no indication of mechanical error, signal malfunction or problems with the track. While the NTSB has not made a finding about the cause of the crash, Metrolink has already said Sanchez went through the stop light.

An NTSB spokeswoman would not comment further Thursday about the investigation, which could take more than a year.

In issuing the order, the Railroad Administration noted that rail workers are increasingly using cell phones and other electronic devices that could distract them at critical moments during railroad operations.

It noted six train accidents, four of them resulting in deaths, between 2000 and 2006 in which cell phone use was involved.

"These obviously unsafe practices reflect the powerful influence of pervasive use of cell phones and other electronic and electrical devices," the report said.

While most railroads prohibit or restrict use of electronic devices by rail workers on duty, the Railroad Administration said the rules have not proved effective in preventing train accidents.

Wireless phones provide an extra means of communication among engineers, conductors and dispatchers in the event of a radio failure, but Metrolink decided to prohibit cell phones outright in the locomotive cabin, said Keith Millhouse, vice chairman of the regional rail system's board of director.

"When we adopted this policy some time ago about the need for a communication backup, it was decided the benefits of not having it in the cab outweigh the benefits of having it," Millhouse said. The board decided to allow the conductor, who collects fares, announces stops and performs other duties in the cars, to carry a cell phone in case radio communication went out, he said.

Sanchez's cell phone records show he sent a text message 22 seconds before the Metrolink train crashed head-on into a Union Pacific train Sept. 12 on a curve in the San Fernando Valley community of Chatsworth. In all, he sent and received 57 messages while on duty that day.

State regulators temporarily banned cell phone use by train operators after the crash. To enforce the ban, Metrolink started running trains last weekend with a second engineer in the locomotive of some lines. The agency will also install video cameras to monitor activities in the cab.

Safety advocates argue those measures aren't enough and urge railroads to invest in technology that can put the brakes on a train if it runs a red light or gets off track.

A White House spokesman said President Bush is expected to sign into law sweeping rail safety reform legislation that would requires more rest for workers and the technology to stop trains on a collision course.

Rail companies have been resistant to adopting the braking technology, which will have to be installed by 2015 if Bush signs the law passed by Congress.

"Somebody is going to sneak a cell phone in; somebody's going to make errors and violate rules," said Schleede, the former NTSB investigator. "Railroads need to bite the bullet and buy automatic train control because the consequences are very severe."

---

Associated Press writer Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.

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

[Gokhan]

And here comes the bomb. The light at CP Topanga was probably green after all, according to actual witnesses rather than the postmortem analysis of dispatching data. It had made no sense that Robert Sanchez wouldn't lift his face from his cell phone even once on the 1.02-mile-long straight segment between the station and the light.

And it really infuriates me that NTSB is trying to discredit the actual, real-time, physical witness accounts of at least two rail enthusiasts as well as an experienced security guard, who say they were 100% sure that the light was green, while they are counting on their own analysis of circumstantial computer evidence. Will so-called experts ever get common sense? As if those very rare computer glitches they are ignoring aren't what cause exactly such accidents in the first place!

Los Angeles Times: Saturday, October 4, 2008

Witnesses say light was green just before Metrolink train crashed
Three observers who were at the Chatsworth station -- a security guard and two train enthusiasts -- insist that the engineer had a green light.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Rich Connell, and Robert J. Lopez
Staff Writers

Three observers who say they were at the Chatsworth Metrolink station before last month's deadly train crash have asserted in interviews that a final, crucial railroad signal was green as the commuter line's engineer headed toward the collision point.

The accounts, including one from a station security guard and another from a retiree who says he was interviewed by a federal investigator, contradict a key preliminary finding by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The safety agency has said its evidence shows the signal was red when the Metrolink train, driven by engineer Robert M. Sanchez, barreled over a switch that merges two tracks into one and slammed into a Union Pacific train, leaving 25 dead and 135 injured.

Experts say it is common for investigators to get sharply differing witnesses' accounts during inquiries into catastrophic accidents. But the three witnesses were insistent.

"I saw the light was green. Everything seemed all right," said Chris Watson, 20, the station security guard. Watson said he was standing midway down the platform on Sept. 12 as Metrolink 111 pulled out of the station.

Bob Atkinson also said he saw the signal as the train departed.

"That light was green," said Atkinson, 65, a retired movie projector repairman and train enthusiast who regularly visits the station and knew Sanchez. Another train buff, Chris Cassel, 56, said he was standing near Atkinson as they both looked down the track. "He had a full-blown green light when he left," he said. All three were interviewed by The Times this week at the station.



Bob Atkinson, Chris Cassel and Chris Watson, from left, say the Metrolink train didn't run a red light. "I saw the light was green. Everything seemed all right," Watson said.

If the track signal was green, it would raise the possibility that a combination of factors were at work in the deadliest train crash in modern California history. NTSB investigators said earlier this week that the engineer had sent and received cellphone text messages about the time of the crash. But could he also have received a false signal that the track ahead was clear?

An NTSB spokesman said Friday that he could not comment on the witnesses' accounts. It was not clear whether federal investigators were pursuing or had ruled out the possibility that the light was green as Sanchez approached the fateful section of single, shared track.

"In many situations, witnesses will talk about diametrically opposed things," said Barry M. Sweedler, who spent 30 years with the NTSB as an investigator and administrator. "Maybe if you spoke to three others, they would say the opposite." But he also said he would consider the two rail enthusiasts to be more credible than an average observer because they're familiar with rail operations.

Sweedler said the preliminary signal tests used to support investigators' initial conclusions are "pretty reliable."

In the days after the crash, investigators conducted three tests to check whether the signals were functioning properly.

The first was an electronic test of several signals before and after the Chatsworth station. The second was a "sight distance" survey that, among other things, checked whether Sanchez would have had a clear view of the signals. Investigators also examined computer data to see if the signals were working correctly on the day of the crash.

NTSB board member Kitty Higgins has said all the signals -- including two south of the Chatsworth station and one north of the station near the track switch mechanism -- were visible and working. Not only was the final signal red, Higgins said, but the light just before the station was solid yellow. "That indicates that the third signal is red, that you stop," she said.

"We can say with confidence that the signal system was working," Higgins said at a news conference after the tests.

NTSB officials have said a final test was planned to confirm that the two yellow signals and the red stop signal were all functioning properly. Results have not been announced.

The safety board also says that on the day of the crash, Sanchez sent and received dozens of text messages while on duty, including a final message 22 seconds before impact.

William Keppen, a former locomotive engineer and Maryland-based railroad consultant, said that false track signals can occur but that they are exceedingly rare. In 13 years as an engineer, he said he encountered false green signals twice, but did not proceed because he knew another train was on the tracks in front of him.

He noted that in the Sept. 12 Metrolink crash, the NTSB reported that the switch near the final signal was set so the freight train could move off the main track in front of the stopped Metrolink train. Normally, the switch and the track signals are coordinated, he said, which would also suggest Sanchez had a red light.

All sides, including the NTSB, agree that the signal is visible from the station platform, about a mile away. "We see it every day," said Watson, the security guard. "I don't wear glasses, and at 4:16 [Metrolink 111's approximate arrival time] it's pretty visible."

Atkinson correctly identified the signal's colors while being interviewed by a Times reporter.

On the day of the crash, he said, he was at the station when the Metrolink train pulled in, and after chatting with Sanchez about the Dodgers, he watched the train pull out. Because he'd been expecting to see a freight train coming from the north, he said, he looked up the tracks at the signal and saw that it was green.

"It's a habit," he said as he sat on a station bench this week. "We're always curious about the freight train that comes through here." Atkinson said he turned to Cassel and remarked, "I see a green light already. I guess he'll [Sanchez] get through the tunnel first," a reference to the single track passing through the mountains.

As it turned out, the freight was about to exit the tunnel and collide with the Metrolink train.

Cassel said he was at the station again a few days after the wreck when an NTSB investigator questioned Atkinson. When Atkinson told the investigator he had seen that the light was green the day of the accident, the investigator tested him on the signal's colors and confirmed the 65-year-old could see the light, according to Cassel. He said the investigator thanked him but took no notes. Cassel and Atkinson said they did not get the investigator's name.

"They asked me all kinds of questions," including whether Sanchez had been using a cellphone, Atkinson said. He said he saw Sanchez using a train radio, but not a cellphone.

Though he knew Sanchez, Atkinson said he was not trying to protect the deceased engineer's reputation.

"I'd just like to see what really happened," he said. "I think somebody jumped the gun with all these theories" about text messaging.

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Times staff writer Dan Weikel contributed to this report.

[Justin Walker]

It must be made absolutely certain that these witnesses didn't observe the green signal for the southbound freight train at Lassen. The southbound signals are quite a bit easier to view than the northbound signals from the platform. Hopefully these rail enthusiasts are as knowledgeable enough to have known which ones to look for. (Signals are great aids for train spotters trying to determine when trains will be rolling through and on which track.)

[Gokhan]

Oct 3, 2008 20:22:14 GMT -8 Justin Walker said:

It must be made absolutely certain that these witnesses didn't observe the green signal for the southbound freight train at Lassen. The southbound signals are quite a bit easier to view than the northbound signals from the platform. Hopefully these rail enthusiasts are as knowledgeable enough to have known which ones to look for. (Signals are great aids for train spotters trying to determine when trains will be rolling through and on which track.)

Well, there is almost no chance that these three experienced witnesses would confuse CP Topanga, which is a mile ahead in the forward direction the train is headed, with a signal behind them in the backward direction that is immediately adjacent to the station area, while they were standing on the station platform.

[whitmanlam]

NTSB has confirmed the Metrolink Engineer, Robert Sanchez sent a text message from his cell-phone 22 seconds before the time of the crash. It's still preliminary, but it would be interpreted as just one of the factors, including fatigue.

Even if the track signal was malfunctioning and showed green, if the Metrolink Engineer had been watching the track before the collision, he could have had time to at least apply some brake force.

This could have slowed the train significantly before impact with the freight engine. Reducing the damage from collision.

[Gokhan]

Oct 3, 2008 21:36:01 GMT -8 whitmanlam said:

NTSB has confirmed the Metrolink Engineer, Robert Sanchez sent a text message from his cell-phone 22 seconds before the time of the crash. It's still preliminary, but it would be interpreted as just one of the factors, including fatigue.

Yes, this has already been thouroughly discussed in this thread.

If the light was green, which seems so according to actual witness accounts, both texting and fatigue are completely irrelevant to the accident which happened on a blind curve near the portal of a tunnel.