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Los Angeles Train Ran Red Light Before Crash; Dead Toll Reaches 25
World | September 14, 2008, Sunday // 00:00
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A commuter train engineer who ran a stop signal was blamed Saturday for the deadliest rail disaster in the US in 15 years, according to Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell .
A preliminary investigation found that "it was a Metrolink engineer that failed to stop at a red signal and that was the probable cause" of Friday's collision Tyrrell said, adding that she believes the engineer, whose name was not released, was dead.
Tyrrell further explained that the engineer had driven the agency's trains since 1996 and worked for a subcontractor since 1998.
Authorities also announced that the effort to recover bodies from the Metrolink train had ended, with the death toll at 24. It rose to 25 when a 50-year-old man transported to a hospital from the wreck died.
A total of 135 people were injured, with 81 transported to hospitals in serious or critical condition. A telephone survey of five hospitals found nine of 34 patients still critical.
The collision occurred on a horseshoe-shaped section of track in Chatsworth at the west end of the San Fernando Valley, near a 500-foot-long tunnel underneath Stoney Point Park.
The Metrolink train, heading from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Ventura County, was carrying 220 passengers, one engineer and one conductor when it collided with the Union Pacific freight, with a crew of three, about 4:30 p.m. Friday. It is common in California for freight and commuter trains to use one track.
The crash forced the Metrolink engine well back into the first passenger car, and both toppled over. Two other passenger cars remained upright. The passenger train was believed to have been traveling about 40 mph.
Families of eight of the dead had been notified, two women who were pronounced dead at hospitals remain unidentified with authorities releasing the names of 20 of the victims Saturday.
Friday's train crash was the deadliest since Sept. 22, 1993, when the Sunset Limited, an Amtrak train, plunged off a trestle into a bayou near Mobile, Ala., moments after the trestle was damaged by a towboat; 47 people were killed.
A preliminary investigation found that "it was a Metrolink engineer that failed to stop at a red signal and that was the probable cause" of Friday's collision Tyrrell said, adding that she believes the engineer, whose name was not released, was dead.
Tyrrell further explained that the engineer had driven the agency's trains since 1996 and worked for a subcontractor since 1998.
Authorities also announced that the effort to recover bodies from the Metrolink train had ended, with the death toll at 24. It rose to 25 when a 50-year-old man transported to a hospital from the wreck died.
A total of 135 people were injured, with 81 transported to hospitals in serious or critical condition. A telephone survey of five hospitals found nine of 34 patients still critical.
The collision occurred on a horseshoe-shaped section of track in Chatsworth at the west end of the San Fernando Valley, near a 500-foot-long tunnel underneath Stoney Point Park.
The Metrolink train, heading from Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to Ventura County, was carrying 220 passengers, one engineer and one conductor when it collided with the Union Pacific freight, with a crew of three, about 4:30 p.m. Friday. It is common in California for freight and commuter trains to use one track.
The crash forced the Metrolink engine well back into the first passenger car, and both toppled over. Two other passenger cars remained upright. The passenger train was believed to have been traveling about 40 mph.
Families of eight of the dead had been notified, two women who were pronounced dead at hospitals remain unidentified with authorities releasing the names of 20 of the victims Saturday.
Friday's train crash was the deadliest since Sept. 22, 1993, when the Sunset Limited, an Amtrak train, plunged off a trestle into a bayou near Mobile, Ala., moments after the trestle was damaged by a towboat; 47 people were killed.
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