Engineer Apparently Sent Text Message Before Crash

[NHSparky]

This is why we don't text while driving, people...

LINK

Engineer Apparently Sent Text Message Before Crash

Sep 13, 2008 8:44 pm US/Pacific
At Least 25 People Now Confirmed Dead

<excerpt>

CHATSWORTH, Calif. (CBS) ― Metrolink officials Saturday put the blame squarely on the engineer of the train for the deadly crash that has claimed at least 25 lives. They say he ran a red light.

But a group of local teens, train enthusiasts, who know the engineer well doubt that he was to blame.

They called their friend professional and caring and said he helped them learn about trains and being an engineer. To a man, they said he would "never" have been reckless or unprofessional or run a red light.

But one minute before the deadliest crash in Metrolink history, one teen -- Nick Williams -- said he received a text message on his cell phone from the engineer, whom the teens identified as Robert Sanchez.

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Prayers for the families of the victims.

[DarkHalo]

The whole issue of texting is very possibly a red herring. I was listening to a local Los Angeles radio station and evidently the 'red light' that the engineer blew thru was almost 10 minutes before the crash. In other words any texting done 1 min before the crash is irrelevant. Their fate was probably already sealed by then.

[RightCoast]

The whole issue of texting is very possibly a red herring. I was listening to a local Los Angeles radio station and evidently the 'red light' that the engineer blew thru was almost 10 minutes before the crash. In other words any texting done 1 min before the crash is irrelevant. Their fate was probably already sealed by then.

2 big, heavy trains headed right for each other on the same track, what was the guy texting the King James Bible?

[DarkHalo]

The whole issue of texting is very possibly a red herring. I was listening to a local Los Angeles radio station and evidently the 'red light' that the engineer blew thru was almost 10 minutes before the crash. In other words any texting done 1 min before the crash is irrelevant. Their fate was probably already sealed by then.

2 big, heavy trains headed right for each other on the same track, what was the guy texting the King James Bible?

The talk show hosts i was listening to said they had received emails from people familiar with the area saying the engineer would have had minimal warning even if he had been staring straight ahead. Rough rugged terrain is my guess. This is the valley section of Los Angeles and not at all like the plains states where tracks go straight to the horizon.

[Chris_]

I know exactly zero about trains -- running them, managing them, controlling them.

But I have to ask: don't they have them newfangled computer-thingies to keep this from happening?  Ones that use them satellite-doodads to see where they are?

[RightCoast]

I know exactly zero about trains -- running them, managing them, controlling them.

But I have to ask: don't they have them newfangled computer-thingies to keep this from happening?  Ones that use them satellite-doodads to see where they are?

The satellite was sending a text message.

[NHSparky]

DH--that section of the Valley isn't that hilly or obscured...

I looked it up on Mapquest and it's not bad.  If that was on the curved portion of the track before heading south parallel to Topanga Canyon Blvd it was quite flat and not much in the way of obstruction.  He certainly should have known, and while Metrolink might be looking for a scapegoat at this point, it'll probably come out that he did in fact blow through the red.

[Chris]

Am I the only one, befuddled by the purported group of teenage train enthusiast?  Particularly, that there was a girl in the group... 

 

I like trains.

[jendf]

I was shocked at how fast officials came out with a cause of the accident. With something like this, it seems like a thorough investigation should be warranted. But to come out 24 hours later and say, "The engineer is to blame!" just strikes me as premature or an odd way to handle it.

[Chris]

Didn't the driver admit to missing a signal light?  Sounds pretty straightforward to me.

[NHSparky]

I was shocked at how fast officials came out with a cause of the accident. With something like this, it seems like a thorough investigation should be warranted. But to come out 24 hours later and say, "The engineer is to blame!" just strikes me as premature or an odd way to handle it.

These trains are also equipped with "black boxes" similar to those on aircraft.  Wouldn't be hard to determine.

[DarkHalo]

DH--that section of the Valley isn't that hilly or obscured...

I looked it up on Mapquest and it's not bad.  If that was on the curved portion of the track before heading south parallel to Topanga Canyon Blvd it was quite flat and not much in the way of obstruction.  He certainly should have known, and while Metrolink might be looking for a scapegoat at this point, it'll probably come out that he did in fact blow through the red.

Oh its already a given that the Metrolink engineer (they are subcontracted from another company) blew thru the red. They said that publicly days ago.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe, another huge train company, is a customer of mine and I am in their offices rather often. Their main communications center for this end of California is very close to my office and I have been at the work stations they control all the train traffic from. Each controller usually has 4 large flat screens on a Windows XP Pro system, all Dells, with what looks just like flow charts showing all the train traffic in their areas. It is very quiet and they are serious and intent people.

When a train goes thru a red light it should send off all sorts of warnings. But I am not an expert on it. All I know is what I have seen and heard while in their offices and yards.

[Thor]

I was shocked at how fast officials came out with a cause of the accident. With something like this, it seems like a thorough investigation should be warranted. But to come out 24 hours later and say, "The engineer is to blame!" just strikes me as premature or an odd way to handle it.

You've never been involved in the aviation community, have you?? Pilot error is one of the leading causes of aircraft crashes, at least on paper. It's not always "pilot error", but the pilot seems to get blamed more often than not. When folks can't determine the actual cause of an aircraft crash, they usually pin it on the pilot whether or not that was truly the case.

[jendf]

I was shocked at how fast officials came out with a cause of the accident. With something like this, it seems like a thorough investigation should be warranted. But to come out 24 hours later and say, "The engineer is to blame!" just strikes me as premature or an odd way to handle it.

You've never been involved in the aviation community, have you??

Nope.

[Chris_]

I was shocked at how fast officials came out with a cause of the accident. With something like this, it seems like a thorough investigation should be warranted. But to come out 24 hours later and say, "The engineer is to blame!" just strikes me as premature or an odd way to handle it.

You've never been involved in the aviation community, have you??

Nope.

Me either, but I don't recall an airline every blaming a pilot before the black box has been studied.  They may be correct, but sure seem in a hurry to "pull the trigger" on a man who can't defend himself.

[Chris_]

Err....The latest commentary that I heard this morning is that the Metrolink employee that issued the comment that the engineer blew through a red has been fired........and the NTSB is suggesting that there might have been a problem with the signal lights.....I guess that we might have to wait for completion of the NTSB investigation for the truth to come out......

My experience in accidents such as these involving aircraft (where what little experience that I have exists), is that the initial media reports are almost always wrong......just sayin'

doc

[Thor]

TVDoc, yep.

Most of the time, the aviation industry is fairly quiet until ALL of the evidence is studied. That's a good thing. There are times, though, when "pilot error" is often cited as the cause (or at least used to be) and there was probably more evidence that could have been studied. I know of a few Naval Aviators that had careers ruined for that specific citation. Just sayin'.........

[DarkHalo]

Err....The latest commentary that I heard this morning is that the Metrolink employee that issued the comment that the engineer blew through a red has been fired........and the NTSB is suggesting that there might have been a problem with the signal lights....

The spokesman, err spokeswoman in this case, resigned because the president or CEO (I forget which) had told her to be as open and forthcoming with the media as possible. Then the board of directors told her to recant everything she had said and the CEO/president that had told her to be open wouldn't back her up. So she resigned in protest.

They did a reenactment yesterday and as it turns out the trains only had a 4 second window of time where they could see each other before the crash. One was coming out of a tunnel and the other was rounding a sharp bend. At 2 seconds between them the Union Pacific engineer engaged the emergency brakes. The Metrolink engineer did not. On the news just a few min ago I heard there is some talk of a history of diabetes for the Metrolink engineer. Plus he was in the middle of a 12 hr shift as well.

As far as the texting goes it just seems a bit creepy that this 48 year old man was texting 14 and 15 year old boys regularly.