Warning Came Too Late In L.A. Train Wreck

Dispatcher's Warning Didn't Reach Engineer In Time To Stop Fatal Crash; NTSB Investigation Could Take A Year

(CBS/AP)  A dispatcher tried to warn the engineer of a California commuter train that he was about to collide with a freight train but the call came too late, rail officials investigating the crash that killed 25 people said Sunday.

The dispatcher reached the conductor in the rear of the train, but by then it had already crashed into the oncoming Union Pacific engine at 40 mph, Metrolink officials said.

The engineer was killed in the accident, the United States' deadliest rail disaster in 15 years.

Metrolink said the engineer ran a red signal, but federal investigators said it could be a year before they determine a cause.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday it was looking into a report that the engineer may have been text messaging around the time of the crash.

Two days after the crash, men wearing green and orange safety vests walked up and down the tracks Sunday in an early morning fog, while others snapped pictures and climbed inside the wrecked shell of the front passenger car.

In addition, CBS Station KCAL correspondent Kristine Lazar reported exclusively that one minute before the crash, a teenager received a text message on his cell phone from the engineer, whom friends identified as Robert Sanchez.

The text message received told where Sanchez would be meeting another passenger train.

But train enthusiasts who knew Sanchez well doubt that he was to blame. They called their friend professional and caring. To a man, they said he would "never" have been reckless or unprofessional.

Another of Sanchez's friends, teenager Evan Morrison, told Lazar that Sanchez "was not the kind of guy who would run a red light."

When asked by KCAL to comment on the report, Metrolink spokesperson Denise Tyrell said, "I can't believe someone could be texting while driving a train."

NTSB spokesman Terry Williams said he couldn't confirm reports that the engineer, whose name was not released, had been text messaging.

"We're going to look into that, anything that can help us find the cause of this accident," he said.

Earlier, NTSB member Kitty Higgins said similar reports in other accident investigations turned out to be inaccurate "so I want to be very, very careful about it."

Some 135 were injured in the crash.

Dr. Marc Eckstein, medical director for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said survivors' injuries included partially severed limbs and legs flayed to the bone. At least two survivors had to be extricated from underneath dead bodies and six victims were discovered under the train Saturday, he said.

"There were bodies cut in half, and I could see torsos sticking out. It was pretty horrific," Eckstein said. "The bodies were entwined with the wreckage. "

(Left: Text message received from Metrolink operator Robert Sanchez shortly before the fatal train collision.)

Rescue crews recovered two data recorders Saturday from the Metrolink train and one data recorder and one video recorder from the freight train. The video has pictures from forward-looking cameras and the data recorders have information on speed, braking patterns and whether the horn was used.

Families of victims struggled with their loss after the coroner's office released a partial list of the names of the dead. Among them was a Los Angeles police officer and a city employee who was believed to work in the general services office, said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The collision occurred on a horseshoe-shaped section of track in Chatsworth at the west end of the San Fernando Valley, near a 500-foot-long tunnel underneath Stoney Point Park. There is a siding at one end of the tunnel where one train can wait for another to pass, Tyrrell said.

The commuter train, heading from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Ventura County, was carrying 220 passengers, one engineer and one conductor when it collided with the Union Pacific freight, which had a crew of three. The impact rammed the Metrolink engine backward, jamming it deep into the first passenger car.

It was the deadliest passenger train crash since Sept. 22, 1993, when Amtrak's Sunset Limited plunged off a trestle into a bayou near Mobile, Alabama, moments after the trestle was damaged by a towboat; 47 people were killed.

[stupidrules3]

Maybe the dispatcher should have texted the warning to the engineer....

[txgrouch2006]

I suppose it''''s too much to ask that freight trains and passenger trains each use separate rail lines. Like in Europe - and the rest of the civilized world. Instead of spending billions of dollars a day in foreign nation-building, we should be using this money for our own infrastructure.
Posted by arkadian at 10:23 AM : Sep 15, 2008

Agree that our infrastructure needs MUCH attention, as we have discovered in the Houston area.

But building separate tracks? Then we''d have passsenger trains colliding with passenger trains.

Until we find the root cause of this accident, it''s very hard to see how sharing track between freight and passengers is to blame.

[drew30319-2009]

"...freight has priority on these shared tracks. I have ridden these trains and that is what they explain--passenger trains always take the sidings and let freight go through..."
Posted by andor3 at 01:06 AM : Sep 15, 2008
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Absolutely. The tracks themselves are (generally) owned by the freight companies; the passenger trains pay for access rights.

I''ve traveled all over the country by train and, although I prefer trains, it is this issue that keeps me from riding them more often. It is nearly impossible to meet the timetable when you have to pull over and wait for freight trains to pass.

And for those of you that believe that we should fund separate passenger lines, do your part in supporting Amtrak by taking a trip by train rather than air or car next time! The cost (in energy) is lower by train than either of these other options.

[docpeter1953]

A passenger train is suppost to have priority over a freight train, why was it not given the priority to the passenger equipment?

Posted by ghm1 at 12:15 AM : Sep 15, 2008

I don''''t doubt what you say, but why would a 4-car ''''people'''' train take priority over a freight train that had to weight so much more and therefore be much harder to stop? Why shouldn''''t the smaller Metrolink be required to give way to the larger, heavier freight as it would have been so much easier to get the Metro onto the sidetrack and stopped? Is there actually a rule that states that freights must give way to passenger trains, no matter what lenghth/weight they are?

Please don''''t think I am being a smart-a$$. I am merely trying to understand why passenger trains are supposed to be considered more important.

Posted by gramto8 at 10:04 AM : Sep 15, 2008
_______________-

gramto8 you are more likely correct here that ghm1. If you consider other areas of transport, e.g. air and water, the larger vessle has the ROW, not the smaller. I remember taking a passenger train ride when I was about 9yo. We had to pull over to a side track and wait for almost 45 minutes while a freight train passed.

[docpeter1953]

Somehow or the other, this must be the fault of over population, George Bush, and Global Warming.

Posted by minnick8 at 10:23 AM : Sep 15, 2008
_________________

Give them a while and someone will come up with a way that GWB is personally responsible.

[yongamerica]

A positive train control system could have prevented this disaster. The owners of the tracks and trains refuse to invest in current technologies to make trains safer.

There wasn''t a radio, telephone or computer terminal to inform or warn the engineer by the train track controllers. Even though he had his personal cell phone, the warning came to the conductor at the back of the train first!

It is obvious trains need a major communication and navigation upgrade.

[minnick8-2009]

Arkadian,

Yes, it is too much to ask.

I suppose it''s too much to ask that freight trains and passenger trains each use separate rail lines. Like in Europe - and the rest of the civilized world. Instead of spending billions of dollars a day in foreign nation-building, we should be using this money for our own infrastructure.

[minnick8-2009]

Somehow or the other, this must be the fault of over population, George Bush, and Global Warming.

[gramto8]

To: tuckjerndfw(sic)

You have too much time on your hands.

Posted by oleander8 at 08:31 AM : Sep 15, 2008

I saw nothing wrong with tucker''s post. If the engineer didn''t have those devices available to him, he should have. The dispatcher that was finally able to warn someone managed to get in contact with the CONDUCTOR in the rear of the train.. NOT the ENGINEER who was the one who needed the warning and needed it much sooner. A trigger from the first yellow light, a stronger trigger from the second yellow, and application of brakes from the red light (if indeed there was a red light) should be minimum in the case of two trains heading toward each other.