Safety News

Los Angeles commuter train crash: Driver 'distracted by text message'

09.16.08, Telegraph.co.uk

By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles

A train driver blamed for missing a red signal shortly before two trains
collided in Los Angeles last week killing 25 people may have been distracted
by text messages right before the crash, officials have said.

US investigators are examining reports that two teenage train enthusiasts received a
text message from the engineer driving one of the trains moments before the crash.
The Washington-based National Transportation Safety Board plans to obtain the
mobile phone records of both the boys and the driver, who died in the crash, to
ascertain if he was texting at the time.

Robert Sanchez, 46, was manning a Metrolink passenger train heading north through
the San Fernando Valley when it crashed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train
around 4.30pm. His phone was not recovered.

Nearly 140 people were injured and 25 killed as the force of the impact shoved the
commuter train's engine part-way inside its first passenger carriage, splitting open
the car.

Rescue crews spent hours working their way through the mass of mangled metal to
reach survivors - and retrieve bodies - from the wreckage.

More than 40 of the injured were critically hurt in the deadliest US rail tragedy in 15
years.

The day after the crash Metrolink blamed the engineer for failing to stop at a red
light. But the company's spokesman who made the remark later resigned after its
board said the conclusion was "premature".

Much of the post-crash probe, which could take a year to complete, has so far
focused on whether trackside signals were working and if the driver failed to follow
them.

Local television news reported that two 14-year-old boys who befriended Mr Sanchez
exchanged text messages with him about a minute before the crash. The boys'
families have been helping investigators.

Metrolink said it barred engineers from using mobile phones or other electronic
devices when driving trains.

The investigation will also examine whether the engineer suddenly fell ill or was
unable to see the signals because he was blinded by the sun.