Thursday, September 25, 2008

L.A. Commuter Train Crash - The Mystery Deepens - "Either The Engineer Became Disabled Or He Let The Accident Happen"

Hmm:


Engineer Robert Sanchez called back to the conductor that the first signal was flashing yellow … and then no other communications. The train would then pass two more warning lights, a solid yellow and a red signal … never would the train slow and never did the engineer or the conductor pull the emergency brake or stop before the switch.

Apparently, all of the communications run through dispatch center and the tapes go dead after that first call out of a flashing yellow light. 

The railroad investigators are blown away that, 1.) the engineer blew thru all the signals and the switch and didn’t prepare for an oncoming train (I am told you’d either have to do it on purpose or be disabled); and, 2.) that the conductor didn’t pull the emergency brake, which I am told is not only an immediately “fire-able” offense, but just about criminally negligent.

In fact, as this investigation proceeds, a source close to the investigation says in order for the engineer to miss three lights — a flashing yellow, a solid yellow and a red — he’d “really have to be trying.” 

He said that the distance between the lights, as well as “the switch the engineer blew through,” was more than enough distance to stop. He said it couldn’t have been a matter of just being distracted while texting…like a car driver who talks or texts and misses a light, not three lights.

That happens pretty quickly. This situation, with the train having three solid warnings, plus the matter of the switch, meant there was something bad going on: either the engineer became disabled or he let the accident happen on purpose, that is what some investigators are fearing and investigating.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

From the posted article:
either the engineer became disabled or he let the accident happen on purpose, that is what some investigators are fearing and investigating.

Consider the possibility that the engineer was forcibly disabled and the train hijacked.

How many bodies were recovered from the location the engineers body was found?

HRW

Anonymous said...

Engineer Robert Sanchez called back to the conductor that the first signal was flashing yellow … and then no other communications.

Neither the engineer nor the conductor reacted appropriately.

More information about the location of the engineer and conductor on the train under normal circumstances as well as the location where their bodies were recovered would be helpful. It would also be useful to know the degree of accessibility passengers have to each the conductor and engineer.

Once the first signal was not responded to, why wasn't the switchboard contacting the other train's engineer and conductor? Was there enough time between the three signals to move the other train to another track?

HRW

Pastorius said...

Those are good questions. I hope the information is released.

Anonymous said...

There was a warning call from the Metrolink dispatch center, when it was alerted of an error by the electronic warning system in the tracks. Their call was answered by the conductor that survived the crash, who stated the crash had already occurred. The conductor of the train, who gives the commands to the engineer, was being interviewed by law-enforcement officials.


No identification of the conductor found online yet.

HRW

Pastorius said...

Interesting. We know the Conductor's name, but now the Engineer, even though the Engineer was ultimately responsible.

Thing is, we may know the Conductor's name because of his friends. I don't remember the source of that info. Was it metrolink, or from friends? Do you remember?

Anonymous said...

MSNBC reports: Audio recordings of contact between Sanchez and the conductor on Metrolink 111 show they were regularly communicating verbal safety checks about signals along the track until a period of radio silence as the train passed the final two signals before the wreck. The tapes captured Sanchez confirming a flashing yellow light before pulling out of the Chatsworth station.

The train may have entered a dead zone where the recording was interrupted. Investigators tried to interview the conductor about the lapse Monday, but he declined because a company representative was not able to be present, Higgins said. He is still hospitalized with serious injuries.


and


Freight brakeman (Dominick Fravola) in LA train collision sues

and

LA Metrolink adds second engineer to some trains 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 ...