Kalifornien: Metrolink lokaltåg krockade med UP godståg

[996]

I Norge har en lokfører og en togvertinne på Flytoget fått sparken etter at vertinnen hadde fått kjøre toget.

Og så jeg som fikk lov å kjøre trikk da jeg var ti år gammel....

Mvh Bjørn

[Ivers1991]

I Norge har en lokfører og en togvertinne på Flytoget fått sparken etter at vertinnen hadde fått kjøre toget.

Og så jeg som fikk lov å kjøre trikk da jeg var ti år gammel....

Mvh Bjørn

Ble selv invitert inn i en MX i fjor høst av føreren der, virket ikke som det gikk særlig inn på noen av oss...

[Zill]

L.A. Times: Federal hearing: Metrolink engineer warned twice about cell use

Rick Dahl, a supervisor with Connex Railroad, which provides train crews to Los Angeles-based Metrolink, said Sanchez was first warned about violating rail policy in 2006 when inspectors conducting a surprise test found that his cellphone was turned on in a nearby personal gear bag on board the train.

[Zill]

Mera ur Los Angeles Times: Reports of negligence fuel pain after Metrolink crash

Legal experts say findings that Metrolink engineer Robert M. Sanchez sent and received hundreds of on-duty cellphone text messages, allowed teenage rail fans into locomotive cabs, and may have failed to properly call and confirm crucial signals are likely to bolster damage claims expected to total hundreds of millions of dollars. Metrolink's own abrupt decision last week to topple two top managers accused of failing to adequately supervise Sanchez and other rail workers underscored safety problems, experts said.

Sanchez was text-messaging about the time he sailed through a red light and hit a Union Pacific freight train head-on, investigators have said. The engineer and 24 passengers were killed. More than 130 were injured and dozens hospitalized, some with serious internal damage.

Metrolink, a five-county, taxpayer-subsidized rail agency, and Connex Railroad, the private company hired to provide engineers and conductors on the commuter system, are suing each other. Each contends the other is required to pay its liability costs.

Some of the most powerful accusations have come from Metrolink itself. After Sanchez's activities were detailed at the National Transportation Safety Board hearing in Washington, Metrolink removed two Connex employees from duties connected to Metrolink operations.

But Metrolink's own role in front-line personnel matters also was called into question. Connex, which defends its managers and insists that it has been diligent about safety, said Metrolink asked it to retain engineers and managers -- including the executives ordered removed last week -- when the firm took over train operations from Amtrak in 2005.

[Zill]

Los Angeles Times:

Metrolink moves to take over supervision of engineers, conductors in wake of deadly crash

The board of the five-county regional service voted unanimously to begin what would be a yearlong transition from the subcontractor, Connex Railroad. But it also agreed to hear proposals from Amtrak.

[Zill]

Los Angeles Times:

L.A. city leaders denounce firefighter union mailer using images of Metrolink disaster

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called a news conference this morning to denounce L.A.'s firefighter union for using images of last year's Metrolink train disaster in Chatsworth in a mailer promoting its fight against planned budget cuts, calling such a move "offensive."

United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112, which has been locked in heated contract talks with Villaraigosa and the council, ratcheted up its campaign this week by sending voters a mailer that features photographs from last year's commuter train derailment, which left 25 dead.

The mailer points out that 250 firefighters responded to the disaster and urges voters to call or e-mail their representative on the council.

[Johan A]

Kan ingen beräta vad de står ? På svenska förstås inte anars .

[Zill]

Kan ingen beräta vad de står ? På svenska förstås inte anars .

Som Du troligen vet startade jag denna tråd efter en svår olycka i Chatsworth, ett område i Los Angeles, då ett Metrolink lokaltåg krockade med ett Union Pacific (UP) godståg under högtrafiken eftermiddagen 2008-09-12.

Nu har lokalavdelningen inom brandmännens förbund i USA tagit ut reklam mot budgetnedskärningar som har föreslagits i Los Angeles City Council (d v s stadsfullmäktige) som skulle minska antalet brandmän i stadens Fire Department (stadens brandförsvar). Som exempel citerades just denna olycka vid Chatsworth - ca 250 brandsoldater o s v kom till olycksplatsen för att delta i räddningsarbetet.

Och vissa politiker i i staden Los Angeles, inkl borgmästare Antonio Villaraigosa har nu haft besk kritik för brandmännen och deras reklam.

Det skrevs i brandmännens reklam (ang Chatswortholyckan):

250 brandmän på platsen
135 skadade
25 dödsoffer

Om nedskärningarna godkänns av stadsfullmäktige i Los Angeles så skulle man ha (haft):

87 mindre brandmän
15 mindre brandbilar (släckbilar, stegbilar, och räddningsbilar (rescue squad)) och
9 mindre ambulansbilar (i USA är det ofta brandförsvaret som tar ansvar för ambulansverksamheten)

[Zill]

KNX Newsradio/CBS:

One Year After the Devastating Metrolink Crash

LOS ANGELES (CBS) -- Rail officials Saturday will honor the 25 people who were killed when a Metrolink commuter train crashed with a freight train a year ago in Chatsworth.

The crash was the deadliest in Metrolink history and has led to efforts to install an automated collision-avoidance system.

[Zill]

L.A. Times:

Metrolink engineer may have run red signal, prompting new concerns about rail safety

With Metrolink still struggling to recover from last year’s deadly head-on Chatsworth collision, officials at the commuter rail agency were investigating a fresh incident in which an engineer allegedly failed to stop at a red signal as another passenger train approached, The Times has learned.

The incident last Tuesday, which occurred in late evening 2 1/2 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, has stirred up sensitive issues for the five-county agency. Last year's crash, on Sept. 12, killed 25 people and injured 135.

No injuries were reported in last week’s incident, and both trains managed to stop several hundred feet apart, officials said. If investigators find he ran a red light, it would be the fourth such violation since the Chatsworth crash, including one that caused a sideswipe collision with a freight train in Rialto last November.

[kildor]

Tack för rapporteringen, Zill!

If investigators find he ran a red light, it would be the fourth such violation since the Chatsworth crash...

“This is simply inexcusable,” said board Chairman Keith Millhouse, a Moorpark council member and Metrolink rider. “I’m just extremely upset. ... These engineers are going to get weeded out if they are not going to do their job.”

Officials have been seeking to avoid potentially tragic safety violations with new video surveillance cameras placed in locomotives...

Man kan ju hoppas att dom kommer tillrätta med problemen. Men frågan är om dom använder rätt metod...

[Zill]

L.A. Times:

NTSB chairwoman faults engineer's 'egregious' text messaging in Chatsworth crash

The contracted Metrolink engineer who was text messaging immediately before running a red light in the 2008 Chatsworth disaster had been counseled about the issue but still "engaged in a pattern of behavior that was unsafe on a regular basis," the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board said today.

"This wasn’t a one-off situation. This person didn't make a mistake. ... He was almost text messaging more when he was on duty" than off duty, said Chairwoman Deborah Hersman, citing records from the days leading up to the crash that showed engineer Robert M. Sanchez sent and received dozens of texts during periods he was scheduled to operate trains.

[Ulrik Berggren]

Och lösningen blir förståss att införa dödsstraff för lokförare som SMSar... Mer opportunt därborta än att satsa pengar på automatiskt tågstopp

[Zill]

Och lösningen blir förståss att införa dödsstraff för lokförare som SMSar... Mer opportunt därborta än att satsa pengar på automatiskt tågstopp

Trots att många politiker i USA (skäskilt republikanska politiker) är förälskade i dödstraffet, tror jag inte att man kommer att avrätta någon lokförare.

Automatic Train Control kommer nog så småningom, men inte fort (man har det haft det en längre tid utmed Amtraks Northeast Corridor mellan Washington och Boston).