MTA motion calls for Metrolink safety improvements | Bottleneck Blog

The Metro (the MTA) Board will consider a motion Thursday morning that calls for Metrolink to add a second engineer to the cab, install more automatic train stop devices and put another video camera in the cab of locomotives to monitor engineers.

The motion is being supported by several MTA Board members, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe and Board member Richard Katz. Katz is also a Metrolink Board member -- having been appointed to the board last week by the mayor.

Here's the entire motion below. Keep in mind it's calling for Metrolink to do all these things and it remains far from certain whether the Metrolink Board of Directors will go along or even has the resources to do them.

Joint Motion by
Combining Items 49 & 50 – Enhanced Commuter Rail Safety
MTA Board Meeting
September 25, 2008

At 4:23 p.m. on September 12, 2008 a Metrolink commuter train
and a Union Pacific locomotive collided head-on in Chatsworth,
California. The crash resulted at least 25 fatalities and over 135
people were injured, 40 of them critically.

To move forward from this tragedy, we must do everything we can
to improve the safety of our commuter rail system, which is so
vital to providing commuters with an alternative to driving.
While the exact cause of the accident is still undetermined, we
have enough evidence to believe that there was probably some
level of human error involved.

Even if there was no human error, we still must implement as
many safeguards as possible, including redundant layers of safety
on our commuter rail network.

Positive train control (PTC) systems prevent train collisions and
over-speed accidents by using global positioning systems (GPS)
and automatic control systems to override mistakes made by
human operators.

The PTC system, which has been the number one rail safety
priority for the last ten years of the National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB), is particularly important in places where
passenger trains and freight trains share the same track.

The Federal Railroad Administration estimates that implementing
PTC on 100,000 miles of rail nationwide will cost $2.3 billion,
which is an average of $23,000 per mile.

The Los Angeles County portion of the Metrolink service area
includes 185.8 route miles, so PTC may cost about $4.3 million to
implement based on publicly reported FRA figures.

While some experts believe that PTC cannot be implemented in
the near future, proven “automatic train stop” (ATS) technology
already exists and is operational, including on portions of
Metrolink’s Orange County Line and Inland Empire-Orange
County Line.

Even though implementation of ATS by Metrolink alone only
reduces the risk of collision from Metrolink trains running a red
signal (and not freight trains), doing this will mitigate human error
related to Metrolink operations.

To complete the ATS on our system requires the railroads to
make the same commitment to prioritize safety and implement
ATS as Metrolink is willing to do.

WE THEREFORE MOVE THAT the MTA Board of Directors:

1. Instruct the Los Angeles delegation to the Metrolink Board of
Directors and request the whole Metrolink Board of Directors
to:

A. Direct Connex Railroad LLC/Veolia Transportation to
immediately staff Metrolink locomotive cabs with two
qualified engineers and authorize the Metrolink CEO to
negotiate any associated contract amendments

B. Implement “automatic train stop” (ATS) wayside
infrastructure immediately to compliment Metrolink
trains that are already equipped with ATS equipment
and capability

C. Install in all Metrolink locomotive cabs as soon as
possible video cameras and digital video recorders (or
equivalent technology) that will record all engineer and
other staff activity in the cab for forensic and
investigative purposes, including appropriate discipline
for engineers who violate operating procedures
required by law or contract

D. Immediately establish an independent “Commuter Rail
Safety Peer Review Panel” to review Metrolink’s
existing rail safety plans, operating procedures, and
protocols. The panel shall include experts in applicable
fields to review and recommend both immediate and
longer term improvements that will increase safety,
reduce the risk of a catastrophic event, and focus on
creating safety redundancy in Metrolink’s operating
procedures, vehicles, facilities (wayside), and systems.
In addition, the panel should be requested to review the
safety plans and protocols of the Burlington Northern
Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads operating in
Metrolink service area. The results of the peer review
need to be presented within two weeks at a special
Metrolink Board meeting.

E. Concurrent with the work of the “Commuter Rail Safety
Peer Review Panel” challenge the Burlington Northern
Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads to implement ATS
infrastructure on their locomotives operating in the
Metrolink service area, including the County of Los
Angeles

2. Direct the CEO to:

A. Immediately identify and program $5 million for
implementation of “automatic train stop” (or positive
train control systems and/or other effective collision
avoidance systems) on the commuter rail system in the
County of Los Angeles

B. Report back to the Board in October with cost estimates
and any additional programming required to implement
these automatic train stop systems

C. Include funding for ATS and any other recommended
safety improvements in MTA’s proposed FY 2009
budget

3. Direct the CEO to work with Metrolink’s other funding
partners to secure, identify and program funding for
implementation of positive train control systems (or other
effective collision avoidance systems) on the commuter rail
system in the non-Los Angeles portions of Metrolink’s
service area

4. Request the CEO to report on actions needed to secure and
allocate for rail safety improvements in the Metrolink service
area, the $97.0 million of Trade Corridor Improvement Fund
revenues, programmed by the California Transportation
Commission for the Colton Crossing project, consistent with
Article 2.5. Section 8879.52 (d) of AB 268

5. Adopt “SUPPORT” positions on the following federal
legislation that would implement positive train control and
other collision avoidance systems on commuter rail lines and
create federal assistance for families of passengers involved
in rail passenger accidents and the aggressive timeline in
the Feinstein/Boxer bill:

A. S. 3493 (Feinstein/Boxer)

B. H.R. 2095 (Oberstar)

C. S. 1189 (Lautenberg)

6. Authorize the CEO to work with the Congressional authors to
amend the respective bills to meet the policy and safety
goals of this motion

7. Direct the CEO to report back to the Board in October with a
work plan to develop a comprehensive “Los Angeles County
Commuter and Freight Rail Master Plan” that includes, but is
not limited to, the following:

A. Identify, evaluate, and recommend additional
technological and systems investments including, but
not limited to:

• Positive train control
• Automatic train stop
• Upgraded signals
• Enhanced communications
• Upgraded dispatch
• On-board cameras

B. Identify, evaluate, and recommend new rail
infrastructure upgrades that include, but not limited to:

• Grade separations
• Track straightening
• Tunnel improvements
• Adding new track (double tracking, etc.)
• Improved highway-rail crossing intersections

C. Other recommended rail improvements not identified
above or recommended by the Metrolink “Commuter
Rail Safety Peer Review Panel” process.

8. Direct the CEO to include advocacy for additional federal
and state funding to increase the safety of the commuter rail
system in Los Angeles County and the entire Metrolink
service area

9. Direct the CEO to prepare for signature by all 13 MTA Board
members a letter to Los Angeles County’s Congressional
and state delegations urging them to:

A. Support additional federal and state funding for
enhanced commuter rail safety, especially for automatic
train stop/positive train control systems, grade
separations, and double tracking single track portions of
Metrolink’s service area

B. Adopt laws requiring the railroad industry to implement
enhanced safety measures on the nation’s commuter
rail and freight network

C. Urge regulatory and enforcement agencies, including
the Federal Railroad Administration and California
Public Utilities Commission, to allow and approve (if
necessary) implementation of existing automatic train
stop technology while a national standard for a more
advanced positive train control system is being
developed

D. Urge Congress to direct the FRA to be more aggressive
in implementing safety measure that protect commuters

E. Urge Congress to empower and require FRA to
regulate railroad worker hours in a manner similar to
how the Federal Aviation Administration regulates
airline pilots to reduce the risk of fatigue causing or
contributing to human error that can lead to a
catastrophic rail incident

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