Metrolink crash: How trains navigate the tracks

I spoke earlier to Francisco Oaxaca, a spokesman for Metrolink. The following is an overview of the systems in place that are supposed to help trains safely travel tracks in the Southland.

A quick review: The accident happened on a stretch of single track that runs through the Santa Susana Pass. There is double track immediately to the south of the crash site near the Chatsworth station (it runs from about DeSoto Avenue to Rinaldi Street). To the west of the pass, there is about 7,600 feet of double track near Simi Valley and another 8,000 feet of double track about five miles south of the Moorpark station.

In Los Angeles County, Metrolink owns the tracks used by the Ventura County-bound trains. That means it's also up to Metrolink to maintain the tracks and signals and to dispatch its trains. The Metrolink dispatch center is located in Pomona. At the center, dispatchers look at computer screens with schematics of all the rail lines in the area on which they can electronically monitor the progress of trains -- dispatchers can also see trains on tracks owned by others, such as the Union Pacific. Electronic signals are sent to the signals along the tracks from the center.

It is up to the engineer on the Metrolink train to see the signal and abide by it. “The engineer sees the signal, and then will contact the conductor over the radio and will call out the signal he or she has observed and the location and the conductor will repeat back that they did receive the communication from the engineer,” Oaxaca said.

I asked him if Metrolink knows if such a communication occurred on Friday. “That’s going to be part of our investigation and that’s what we’re working with the NTSB on,” Oaxaca said.

The train that crashed on Friday had one engineer and one conductor, as is usual for Metrolink. The engineer was killed, according to Metrolink, but Oaxaca said that the conductor, who survived, is believed to have been in the rear car of the three-car train. “I haven’t seen any statement from the conductor yet,” Oaxaca said.

Metrolink has 20 of its trains cross the Santa Susana Pass each day. Oaxaca did not know the number of freight trains that use the tracks (Amtrak also has service on those tracks), but said the Union Pacific freight train is a regular train. “That is a daily freight train," he said. "It’s a regular traveler on those tracks…They don’t fall on a regular schedule like we do. It’s my understanding that an encounter of our train and the freight train is a fairly regular occurrence -– not necessarily in that particular location. It can be in other locations depending on how early or late that freight train is coming.”

Note to readers: Obviously, there is still a lot of information that has not been released about the crash of Metrolink Train 111. Metrolink officials said earlier that the train crash was their fault and that the engineer ignored a red signal telling him to stop.

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[nina]

I hope Metrolink gets sued and changes their backup system

[Peter]

WPO - they aren't looking to blame someone as much as they need to know if it was driver error or a systems failure that caused the accident. If it is a system failure they need to know so they can fix it before it happens again.

[Bobbi]

I live a few blocks away. I did not hear the impact, but I saw the choppers and heard them all night. The high school that the families are going to is where my son attends.

This shook me up. You never know. I have been praying for the families and everyone affected by this tragedy. We should have a ceremony to honor the victims who have died, and the first responders who rescued people.

Being that I have lost my father suddenly a few years ago, I found Loss & Grieving books to be comforting. These families need all the support and comfort that they can get. This books were especially helpful: http://lovingstevenmiller.wordpress.com/

[Dee]

It's now over 24 hours since this terrible tragedy happened. The first priority, obviously, is to help the victims get medical attention. And our hearts, of course, go out to the victims and their families.

But now it is very much in the public's interest for the auhorities to investigate and find out exactly what happened. People who depend on trains for transportation are going to be feeling very uneasy about riding trains until this accident is throgoughly investigated and understood, and steps are taken to prevent anything similar in the future.

Even if the engineer on Train 111 ran a stop light, that does not necessarily mean that he was to blame. He might have suffered a stroke or a heart attack, or may have been otherwise incapacitated at the moment. It's also possible that he was overly sleepy for some reason, such as medication; or even that it was an act of suicide/homicide. (I'm not saying that's likely, because I don't think it is. But almost anything is *possible*.) In any case, the safety of the train's passengers should NOT depend on one person's alertness.

I was glad to read in this article that the usual protocol is to send signals back and forth to ensure that they have been received. (Also surprised to hear that the dispatch is coordinated in Pomona, since I live close to the Pomona train station and often go there and watch the trains rushing by.)

But the thing is this: What is their EMERGENCY BACKUP plan, when they find out that the engineer has NOT gotten the signal? Supposedly the conductor could step in, I guess. But in this case even that might not have been enough, because the problem here was that there was ONLY ONE TRACK, and no way to get the train off of it. Even if the Metrolink train brakes had been applied much sooner, the freight train was still going. It seems like what it would take is for the dispatchers to have some kind of remote control or emergency override capability to control BOTH of the trains -- to stop them both, and stop any other trains behind them, and then reverse the Metrolink train back to the last switching station, so it could be routed to the other track there, while the freight train continued on.

Maybe the real problem here is NOT ENOUGH TRACKS. If we value trains for both passenger and freight use (and we *should*), then we really should be investing in MORE TRACKS. It might not be a bad idea for every track to be ONE WAY ONLY, just as we do with highway lanes.

It's a d@mn shame what happened to rail service in this nation -- how it was allowed to fall into neglect and decay, when it could be so helpful in reducing traffic and
pollution and energy use. Those big semi truck that we see hauling stuff on the freeway, belching out noxious fumes and getting in everybody's way, are also causing most of the damage to highways that taxpayers end up paying to repair. I can't help but think how much nicer it would be if all the long-distance freight hauling were done by rail, and if big semi trucks were used only for local distances, under a few hundred miles or so. That way, big freight trucks could be kept off the highway, except for during the low-traffic period at night, from about 8pm to 5am. And our highways would be much safer and more pleasant to drive without big trucks getting in everyone's way all the time.

Passenger rail service hould be revived too. If and when gas prices go through the roof, we should be ready to have the trains take over. Maybe try looking ahead for a change, instead of only behind.

[Thomas C. Inskip]

The system described is up-to-day for 1958; however with more traffic and multiple users then, in 2008 the system is a working accident.

[Old Coot]

I worked for the CB&Q railroad that became the BN Inc. railroad that became the BN railroad that became the BNSF railroad. In total over thirity years. In all that time I never seen an accident that the railroad diden't try to blame it on someone that died in it.

[Keith Dawson]

There have to be more checks in place than one reading of a signal light, or one failure to read a signal light, I should think.

[wpo]

Please, this is not the time to search for the poor person who caused it, lets just try to help the people and their families, who are suffering, lookit, thats what we do.