Train Wreck in Chatsworth

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Just heard about this on the radio - hope everyone's okay. Sounds like a really bad one (commuter train versus freight train head-on they're saying).

[HardDrive]

Looks VERY bad. Yikes. Cars strew everywhere and a fire.

Terrible.

[Danny_Ocean]

http://www.knbc.com/videostream/10954229/detail.html

[dd74]

Nothing yet on latimes.com. I'll check the Daily News.

You guys see anything on line yet?

[dd74]

Originally Posted by Danny_Ocean

http://www.knbc.com/videostream/10954229/detail.html

Thanks...

[sammyg2]

They say two confirmed dead so far.

[HardDrive]

It looks like the passenger engine telescoped into the first car. I really hope that is not the case

[TerryH]

Really a big ugly mess. No excuse for 2 trains to collide head-on. Tragic.

[Dan in Pasadena]

6:40 pm. Six dead, dozens injured.

Reason for crash has to be signaling errors but why is the question? Human error or equipment error yet to be determined.

I work for Metro as some of you know but the Metrolink is run by the SCRRA - Southern California Regional Rail Authority, made up of L.A., O.C., Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. We (Metro) put the lion's share of the money into their budget but are only one of the players in running them.

My boss takes this train daily and I was with him later this afternoon right before he MAY have gotten on this train. I'm not the guy's biggest fan but I'd hate to see anyone get hurt.

[legion]

There was a head-on EL wreck in Chicago a few months ago.

Investigation found that the operator stopped the train at a red light, got out and manually switched the switch and overrode two automatic kill mechanisms. Sometimes it's not a switching error.

The operator was placed on paid leave (gotta love the unions).

[ckissick]

One of the survivors was talking to some people about the 2005 Glendale crash that killed 11 passengers when this latest wreck occurred. You think that's a weird coincidence? The guy was talking about that 2005 crash because he was in it.

[Sonic dB]

the photos look horrible...i know someone who takes that train, same time... i hope he is ok

[JavaBrewer]

Death toll is climbing, 17 now, with many more still to be reached. Ugly.

What the hell is wrong with the U.S. rail system? I have used trains in Europe with zero concern of accidents like this but when I rode the coaster in San Diego I always had doubt we were the only folks using the rail.

[artplumber]

not quite. Some examples:
French train smash kills 5
POSTED: 1744 GMT (0144 HKT), October 11, 2006
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/10/11/france.train/index.html


21 killed in magnetic train crash
POSTED: 1919 GMT (0319 HKT), September 22, 2006
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/22/germany.death/index.html

EDIT: I think I got the links to work. And these stories are just a few example of train accidents which were chosen because they involve other trains. You wouldn't think that the Maglev would hit another train (because it is unique/maglev), but indeed it hit a repair vehicle of some kind. Point of the posting is human error.

[JavaBrewer]

Your links don't work. I acknowledge that Europe has train accidents too but then trains are used much more extensively there.

[artplumber]

I think I fixed the links...

[Sonic dB]

Report now is that an engineer for Metrolink ignored a stop light and blew through...there is a stop light that they are supposed to stop while the other train uses the track to go through the tunnel. Unbelievable human error. Lots of lawsuits coming no doubt.

They are still pulling bodies out...this is very tragic.

[artplumber]

Who to sue? The engineer did something completely against the book (I'd bet) if he/she ignored the red signal. OTOH the engineer, if a survivor, should certainly have charges like multiple manslaughters considered.

[3.2 CAB]

It very well could end up with criminal charges being filed against the actual person/persons that are found to have caused this. Most rail traffic in the US is now handled by CTC, (centralized traffic control) and this type of operations system could be hundreds of miles or even states away from where the wreck actually happened. If it is determined to be the fault of a dispatcher, the guy that punches the buttons to direct the flow and to control rail movements, he very well could be charged with any number of criminal charges, just as any of the crew members that survived, could be charged as well. After a collision like this happens, all of the train crews and the dispatchers are tested for drugs and/or alcohol, to see if it that could be contributed to the wreck. I have been on-site for many accidents such as this, and it is not a pretty sight to see. The weight of just some of the locomotives is almost beyond comprehension, let alone the mass of the entire train consist. We are talking major tonnage, with just the weight of a single locomotive, weighing in at 400,000 pounds just by itself. The bodies of the victims in the double decker passenger car, that the commuter train engine was compressed into, are going to have to be picked out, piece by piece, and this could take several days to do this grizzly task, and identification will probably have to be done by DNA testing.

[sammyg2]

It doesn't work that way. A friend of mine was the engineer on a train that ignored red lights and killed 3 people and injured 260 in Placentia in 2002.
here's the details:

Placentia, April 2002

On April 23, 2002, a BNSF Railway freight train collided head-on with a Metrolink train in Placentia, near the Atwood Junction, at the intersection of Orangethorpe Avenue and Van Buren Street. Both trains were on the same east-west track moving toward one another. The Metrolink had the right-of-way; it was supposed to switch to a southbound track. The BNSF train was supposed to slow and stop just before the switch while the Metrolink passed, but the crew missed a signal one and a half miles back warning them to slow down. By the time the crew saw the red "stop" signal at the switch and the Metrolink train, they were going too fast to avoid a collision. Although there was speculation that the signals alerting the BNSF to slow and stop had malfunctioned, an investigation later concluded that it was human error by the crew that caused the accident. Two people died in the crash and 260 were injured.

After that was written a third person died from injuries suffered.
Here's more to the story,

The engineer of a freight train that crashed head-on into a Metrolink train killing two passengers and injuring hundreds of others on Tuesday told police he didn’t see a crucial signal before the collision because sunlight momentarily blinded him.

According to police records released Friday, Burlington Northern Santa Fe engineer Darrell Wells of Dana Point said he slammed on the emergency brakes when the Metrolink train came into view, but quickly realized it was too late to avoid impact.

“As the train approached the grade crossing in the area of Kraemer Boulevard and Crowther Avenue in the city of Placentia, Wells told me he could not see the signal” two miles before the collision, Officer Kelly Kenehan of the Placentia Police Department wrote in his report. “Wells said that the sun was very bright behind the signal and he could not distinguish the colors.”

However, parts of Wells’ account are contradicted by evidence made public this week by investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board, including the freight train’s speed and the time its emergency brakes were engaged.

NTSB officials have determined that the 67-car freight train caused the crash after running past a yellow, then a red traffic signal just before 8:10 a.m. Tuesday. Federal investigators have ruled out brake and other mechanical failure, track problems and signal malfunctions.

Placentia officials Friday released excerpts of the incident reports written by officers who arrived shortly after the accident. The reports include interviews with the freight train and Metrolink crews.

Police Friday turned over their reports to the NTSB, which has sole jurisdiction over the investigation, Placentia Police Det. Corrine Loomis said.

NTSB investigators reinterviewed crew members Wednesday and Thursday. Spokesman Ted Lopatkiewick declined to disclose what the crew members told the NTSB. The NTSB’s report is expected in nine months to a year.

Metrolink engineer Michael Dudgeon, in a written statement to police, said that as he approached the grade crossing at the intersection of Orangethorpe Avenue and Richfield Road he saw “headlights and [other] lights ahead of our train.”

“I then placed the train in emergency immediately, without hesitation,” Dudgeon said.

The Metrolink train had been powered by a rear locomotive, so the lead car carried passengers, as well as the engineer in a front-facing cab.

Metrolink conductor Patrick Phillips, interviewed at Kaiser Permanente Anaheim Medical Center four hours after the crash, told officers he heard the engineer hit the emergency brake and then saw Dudgeon dash out of the cab and into the passenger compartment of the first car.

“Phillips said he then saw the engineer run past him saying ‘Duck and tuck!’ and ‘We’re going to hit!’ or something of that nature,” according to a report filed by Officer Mike Roach.

“The engineer also had said something like ‘Santa Fe ran a red one,’” meaning the Santa Fe [freight train] had gone through a red signal.”

The engineer of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight told police he hit the emergency brake near the intersection of Tustin and Orangethorpe avenues, about a mile from the crash point.

As the train continued down the track, Wells said he spotted a red signal light warning him to stop, about a a third of a mile before impact.

However, NTSB investigators said the freight train’s event recorder showed that the freight train begin to brake about a third of a mile before the Metrolink train, near the red signal light. If Wells had hit the brakes a mile away, the collision might have been avoided, NTSB officials said earlier this week.

About two miles from the accident site, a yellow light signaled to the engineer that he should slow to 30 mph and be prepared to stop.

Wells told police that when he failed to see that signal because of the blinding sunlight, he slowed the freight train to 40 to 42 mph as a precaution “until he was able to see the next signal and determine what speed he should be traveling at.”

But NTSB officials said the freight train sped up after passing the yellow light, and was traveling at 48 mph when the emergency brake was applied.

Federal investigators Thursday tested track conditions using a train identical to that involved in the crash, and at the same time of day the crash occurred. They found that the signal lights were working and visible. However, NTSB lead investigator Mike Flanigon said the sky might have been more overcast Thursday than on the day of the crash.

Wells told police he began his shift near Los Angeles at 2:30 a.m. the day of the crash, and was destined for New Mexico. His departure was scheduled for 2:30 a.m., but was delayed until 7:30 a.m. because of scheduling conflicts, he told police.

BNSF officials on Friday declined to comment about the accident, and referred all inquires to the NTSB.

Results from blood tests administered immediately after the crash–a routine procedure after a major incident–showed no sign of alcohol use by any crew member.
Tests for drug use also were administered, but the results were not available Friday.

Darrell Wells (I know him by his middle name, Wayne) was the engineer and was at fault, he wasn't paying attention and didn't see the lights, didn't log them, nothing. He was put on paid leave for several years but not fired. There's the union for you.
He wasn't doing his job and his inattentiveness caused the death or injury to hundreds of others, but they couldn't fire him because of the union. They said he was too tired and that was the company's fault, not his.
I've lost track of him and don't know what he's doing now but I know he had a heck of a long (paid) vacation. He may still be getting paid to do nothing AFAIK.