NTSB: Metrolink crew faulted in 2008 crash

— Metrolink engineers are probably to blame for a 2008 accident in which a commuter train scraped against a freight train entering a siding east of Los Angeles, federal safety investigators said Thursday.

A locomotive engineer and assistant engineer failed to brake in time to stop the train at a red light, causing the train to slide past the signal and scrape against a nearly 7,000-feet-long Burlington Northern Santa Fe train as it was entering a siding, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a final report.

The November 20, 2008, mishap near Rialto caused four minor injuries and $25,000 in damage.

Metrolink said the locomotive engineer, who was supplied by former contractor Connex Railroad, was barred from operating Metrolink trains, the agency's spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt said.

She said after the accident, Metrolink officials began ordering engineers to slow to 40 mph or less as soon as they see a yellow signal to better prepare to stop at the upcoming red signal. Previously, engineers were allowed to continue operating trains at track speed when they see the yellow signal, Coffelt said.

Two months before the accident, another Metrolink train ran a red light and collided with a freight train in Chatsworth. The accident killed 25 people, including a Connex engineer who operated the Metrolink train, and injured 135.

The NTSB said three Connex engineers were decertified for failing to stop for a red signal in three accidents that occurred in 2008.

Federal investigators said a computer system that can stop trains headed for a collision course could have prevented the accident in Rialto. Coffelt said Metrolink is working to implement the positive train control system "well in advance" of a federally mandated 2015 deadline.

The Associated Press


