Metrolink crash: Sunday morning update

Good morning. A few quick hits:

1. The Metrolink website remains blocked by the emergency alert. As I wrote Saturday, Google Transit is your best bet for schedule information for today. Blocking the website denies people access to a wide range of information on the commuter rail agency.

2. I don't believe Metrolink Chief Executive David Solow has yet made a public statement on the crash.

3. As you are probably aware, CBS 2 identified the Metrolink train engineer Saturday and aired reports that he was text messaging teen train fans in the minutes before the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board told The Times that it could not confirm that report.

4. The Daily News reports that dispatchers realized the Metrolink engineer had blown the red light, but by the time they called the train it was too late. I had a post Saturday that laid out how the signal and dispatch system was supposed to work.

5. The Metrolink board has scheduled a meeting today at 4 p.m. in Woodland Hills -- details are found on the Metrolink emergeny alert website, which indicates the board will likely be in closed session most of the time. The board also met in closed session Saturday morning, with many directors patching in by phone. Metrolink says it's justified in denying public access to meetings because of a threat to public services and that the board will be discussing likely litigation to come out of the crash.

6. If you want a better understanding of the lay of the land near the crash site, I suggest going to Google maps and doing a search for Chatsworth train station. If you zoom in very tight, you can see that as the tracks head westbound, a siding begins just beyond De Soto Avenue and continues past the station until just shy of Rinaldi Street. Metrolink officials Saturday told me that the initial trackside signal that the engineer missed was just west of De Soto. There's another signal just before the two tracks merge into one south of Rinaldi.

--Steve Hymon

Comments

[J in Pasadena]

Secret Board meeting?! TWO DAYS IN A ROW! This is a total violation of California open meeting laws for government. There are three allowances for private government meetings in this state: (1) Personnel matters -- Ludicrous at this stage; (2) Pending litigation -- No court filings as of end of day Sunday so this is bogus; and (3) Labor/Real-Estate negotiations -- Does not apply.

In the wake of this deadly accident I believe we need public scrutiny of MTA/Metrolink's historically bad decisions. Its share of asinine, poorly considered edicts have had devastating results. I urge everyone reading here to participate in the MTA/Metrolink public process whenever possible. Our city needs safe, transparently designed and cost-effective public transportation solutions, and we need them now.

California enacted sunshine laws to compel government transparency. The MTA/Metrolink board should not be able to operate in meetings outside the law, and this is not the time to make more bad decisions in secret. PLEASE join me in making a formal complaint about this travesty to the Los Angeles District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit.

[Heather]

The sister of a good friend of mine was killed in the crash on Friday. Several in our community are getting together to come up with ways to help. I made some bracelets that I want to sell for donation money, but I'm not sure where it would be best to send that money.

Should I give it directly to my friends family, or is there another fund being made currently that I could send it to?

[karen oishi]

On Saturday morning, a Metrolink official (I believe he is a board member) made a comment on KNX-1070 that a relief fund should be set up to assist the victims of the crash. While that is a noble idea, it seemed to me this official was trying to shrub off Metrolink's (or Union Pacific's*) responsibility. *This comment was made before Metrolink made the announcement that the Metrolink engineer was responsible for the crash.

Regardless of whose fault it is, why did the board member even suggest the public to set up to the plate even before Metrolink did something? It should be Metrolink's (and perhaps even Union Pacific's) responsibility BEFORE the public's. The government is always looking to the public to save their skins before they do anything.

[l.a.guy]

If you search Google Maps for 'Stoney Point Park, Chatsworth, CA' the accident site is just to the right of the rock formation where the bend is. The tunnel entry is north of the formation.

http://tinyurl.com/StoneyPointPark