Federal hearing: Rail enthusiasts sat at controls of Metrolink train

The engineer suspected of causing the Sept. 12 Metrolink catastrophe in Chatsworth not only allowed rail enthusiasts into the cab of moving trains but also let them sit at the controls, according to text messages released today at a hearing by federal investigators.

Two days before the crash, Metrolink engineer Robert M. Sanchez sent a cellphone text message arranging another ride-along and said, "this time I'm taking a picture of you @ da throttle!!!"

Planning for the evening ride-along on the day of the crash, Sanchez texted one of the rail enthusiasts: "yea...but I’m REALLY looking forward to getting you in the cab and showing you how to run a locomotive."

The recipient, identified as "Person A," responded: "Omg [oh, my God] dude me too. Running a locomotive. Having all of that in the palms of my hands. Its a great feeling. And ill do it so good from all my practice on the simulator.”

Sanchez answered: "I’m gonna do all the radio talkin’...ur gonna run the locomotive & I’m gonna tell u how to do it."

The Times reported last week that the messages indicated Sanchez allowed teens to ride in Metrolink cabs, a serious violations of safety rules. Though it does not appear Sanchez had riders in the cab the day Metrolink commuter train 111 crashed into a Union Pacific freight train sharing the same track, he made plans to meet up and allow the rail buffs on board to operate a train later that evening, the records show. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said today the ride-along violated federal and local regulations. 

The new details emerged from the NTSB, which opened a two-day Washington hearing on the collision that killed 25 and injured 135.

Sanchez also sent and received dozens of text messages while on duty the day of the crash, including one shortly before the two trains collided, federal investigators said. Some of those messages reportedly involved young train fans in the Chatsworth area. 

About the time of his last text message, Sanchez sailed through a red warning light, according to Wayne Workman, the NTSB investigator in charge. Workman said tests showed the signal was visible as Sanchez approached it and it was working properly. But four witnesses, including the Metrolink conductor who survived, have said the final light appeared green.

Connex Railroad, which employed Sanchez and has a contract to provide Metrolink train crews, issued  a statement saying the engineer’s actions of allowing teenage rail enthusiasts to ride and control trains were "repugnant" and "contrary to the most fundamental rules of rail operation."

"This rogue behavior was uncharacteristic of the Robert Sanchez known to his co-workers, supervisors, friends and neighbors as a dedicated career railroad engineer" with various railroads, the statement said.

-- Robert J. Lopez and Rich Connell 

Comments

[neil perlman]

How could Mr. Sanchez' colleagues say that this behavior, allowing teens at the controls, was uncharacteristic? Indeed, based on the number of text messages sent and plans made by the engineer, this appears to be typical behavior. The supervision the riding public deserves was obviously negligent.

Was he using his position and authority to solicit sex from these young people?

[dEAN bLAKE]

My office overlooks the tracks where this accident began and I can tell you there was a great deal of electrical work done in the area, including the lights and signals and boxes involved in this accident prior to this crash. Statements that the green lights were dim is highly suggestive of an electrical problem because green appears brighter than red to the human eye and these signal lights are color balanced to take into account this difference hence statements that the green light seemed dimmer is indicative of a problem with the work done, not the engineer.

[Thomas]

I am very Cross at this man.

He did not do a very good job.

Berhaps Percy should have been driving.

[Mike_S]

It is an unfortunate accident--human error whether Sanchez missed the light or the electrical problem dimmed the light. As I understand physics, it was already too late to prevent the accident even if Sanchez had seen the other train at the first opportunity.

Sanchez doesn't deserve to be demonized. He obviously loved his job. He did not intentionally or maliciously put passengers at risk. His death left family and friends mourning as well.

So have a bit of decency, something akin to the 'civil society' we purport to value.

[Taggart]

Interesting that an engineer could spend a big part of his work day texting his teenage boy toys and even allow them to drive trains full of passengers and Metrolink had no clue. Clearly they had no concern whatsoever for the safety of their passengers or they would have provided a little supervision of their employees. CRIMINALLY RECKLESS.

[S.S. Sam Taylor]

The Metrolink Peer Safety Review Panel recommended that the railroad install streaming video cameras facing the engineer. If the same technology used in the trucking industry is applied, you can read fatigue and perhaps prevent more serious problems.

Having live cameras inside will cause rogue operators to think twice before any non permitted activities occur or they will just document them.

The catch: Senator Diane Feinstein thinks that this is an example of big brother in action. I think it is a real solution to keep the engineer and passengers safe. It is time that installation of this technology move forward.

[Rick]

While I can certainly understand that this needs to brought up in the investigation hearings I see no reason for this informaiton to be made public. By publishing this information the LA Times has done one thing and one thing only... you continued to push the engineers name into the mud and allowed the engineers family and families of the rail enthusiasts to continue to suffer with the memories they must bear and the angry attitudes of an unaccepting and uninformed public. This information does not explain the accident, it does not bring back any of the victims... it only stirs up the ghosts.

[Ronin]

They are "railroading" this guy because he's dead and he can't defend himself. Let's see. There are three eye witnesses that say the light was green. If I was the family, I'd sue for defemation of character and then I'd have the railroad management arrested for causing an accident and then covering it up.

[Hollywood Dodger Mark]

This is about gay teen sex with this guy. The LA Times refuses to cover the real story here for political reasons. Outrageous. He was a lonely gay man trying to get young boys. Why do we have to read between the lines of our newspaper. Just tell the story. Interview the kids already.

[imacobru]

I think that Connex Railroad better get their name in for some of that 'Bail Out' money...they are going to need it! I also find it REAL interesting that Mr. Sanchez's contacts with 'Train' enthusiasts were mostly, if not all, young teenage boys. This is not playng out real good here. I also understand that other train employees, including other Engineers had made formal complaints of Mr. Sanchez's prediliction for texting while operating locomotives, not occasionally, but constantly. These complaints were filed with Connex and Metrolink, and only verbal warnings were issued to Mr. Sanchez, he obviously ignored those. Connex Railroad and Metrolink have got a REAL problem on their hands. Unfortunately it will ultimately end up being paid for by the Tax Payor, you and me!

[Zerran]

It appears someone is trying to stack the deck in their favor. It's not exactly clear what happened sighting the witnesses and the surviving metrolink engineer that said the light was green. The fact that he was texting while on duty is a factor, but the real question is, was that light green. If it was, all the other implications really don't mean anything.

[Pat Speer]

I'm not so sure they aren't making a scapegoat of Sanchez. It's sure a whole lot easier to blame the engineer than the system. It reminds me of tech support explaining away computer glitches by saying someone must have pushed the wrong button. They're taking the easy way out.

As far as Sanchez allowing young train buffs onto the train--while this was a clear violation, I don't find it all that surprising, or that suspicious. Engineers are a vanishing breed, and the few that remain are more than eager to pass on their passion to young people who have an interest.

[readywolf]

Four people said the light was green including the conductor and some people that see the light turn red to green every day as they wait for a different train on a platform. I saw one of those "civilians" on TV explaining how he had remarked to his friend that the light shouldn't have been green since there was a train due at that time in the other direction. The light was green. Don't blindly believe what people tell you, use your own mind. The light was green. My question is why didn't the engineer know as much as a civilian and question why the light was green when it should have been red?

[Trainmaster]

Honestly, although it has always been against the rules, for many years train crews have allowed enthusiasts into the control cab of a locomotive. This was even common back in the steam locomotive days. Thats how many young kids grew up and got their first impression of what its like to be a railroader, and eventually became employed themselves by the railroads throughout the years. So this behavior is nothing new. What IS new is the crackdown on safety in a post-9/11 world, lawyers going haywire feeding off our litigious society, and train crews with personality disorders who dont seem to know when this behavior is appropriate and when its not. The key here is the person in control of the train actually had common sense in the past, and that seems to be critically lacking today, sufficiently to get into these employee/enthusiast personal relationships with the aid of new technological gadgets that ultimately interfere with judgment.

The practice of enthusiasts visiting the control cab is nothing new. Our current world as it surrounds this past unofficial practice IS new.

And Mr. Taylor, most railroads DO have video cameras in the locomotive cabs that are aimed out the front windshield in an effort to capture video of crossing accidents in order to defend themselves from tort litigation. Been so for a good 10 years now. The lawyers drove that reality, as the camera makes it easy to knock down bogus lawsuits when it shows the 'victim' drove around the gates. Those cameras also record in-cab voices for analysis of crew awareness in case of an accident.

[MC]

Give me a break. The engineer was cavorting with teenage boys, and the conductor was high on pot. Whether the light was green or not doesn't make one bit of difference. There were a couple of losers running the train, that's how this accident happened.

[nat turner]

Only in Califa would an engineer think of using this position of trust as a gay recruiting play ground .

[sftola]

is it just me, or do the text messages imply something other than their literal meaning?
i.e. was this guy flirting with teens and using trains as a metaphor?
it doesn't say anywhere in the article that he confessed to allowing enthusiasts drive the train. if that assumption was based solely on those texts, i think they might have misunderstood his messages.

[Edmund Biro]

As an engineer, I would have to agree that the passion for the work drives the need to pass it on. In our society, we often make rules that are counter-intuitive to solve problems that we don't understand. The fact that Sanchez wanted to pass on his enthusiasm, and that it was young boys... doens't suprise or upset me. How many "young girls" do you know who would want to ride in a traincab alone with an older male, or even want to be train engineers even in this post-sexist day? (Good show if they do; some of my brightest and best coworkers are).
Blaming human behaviour for errors like not having safety hardware in place (remember?) just "hides" the real issues.
Texting is bad, we know that; and so should have Sanchez. However, red-light/green-light issues only hightlight that we are human. (They did a study on pigeons pecking a button when a light was flashed or object was sighted, they had a MUCH better attention span than humans do).

It's a horrible tragedy, can we move on and fix it so we don't have it happen again?

[Dave]

It was more than once, that as a young boy travelling with my family afforded me the oportunity to visit the Engineer's cab. Cockpit and bridge too, for that matter.

Were these favorite childhood memories all a by-product of "repugnant" and "rogue behavior", "contrary to the most fundamental rules of rail operation." ??

[Mark]

I am astonished at attempts by certain commentators to pass off kids hanging out in the cab as not unusual or supportive of the bizarre notion of passing on enthusiasm for the train obsessed. This is akin to allowing an aircraft enthusiast into the cockpit of an airliner at 30K feet or a surgeon handing a scalpel in the OR to someone interested in surgery. Poll train commuters on whether they think allowing such an intrusion is not a big deal. This is outrageous. Sanchez was charged with the safety of his passengers and the crash was an unambigous dereliction of his duties.

[Rick]

Allowing unauthorized people in the locomotive is a major violation of federal and company regulations. However, like Trainmaster said, it's been done since the dawn of railroading.

What I find suspicious is the tone and wording of Sanchez's messages to the teenagers. It sounds almost pedophile-like; a predator currying favor with the kids, through friendship, to initiate something very inappropriate. Reading his messages made the hair stand up on the back of my neck and my skin crawl.

We will never know what pathology existed in Sanchez's mind.

[Livid]

Hello! He was a loner gay man whose lover hung himself in 2003 or so and was texting and inviting teen boys onto his train - when is someone in the media going to say something about this?

He probably met these kids on Myspace or Facebook.

And please read his bio: he had a dirty criminal record - how could this guy land an important job like this? I am stunned and livid.

I have gay friends and would be just as angry if the guy has been straight and texting teenage girls!

All these people are dead because this man was hired in the first place and was texting and flirting with teenage boys while driving a train.

What's next - a pilot crashing a plane because he's got a flight attendant on his lap?

So senseless and infuriating.

[Rhonin]

For all of you homophobe fools out there trying to make this into a gay pickup operations. Get a life. Or is it you are working for the Railroad lawyers? You're pathetic! What is being covered up here is extremely dangerous. Signals can be wrong. Yes, I know, I was an engineer for ten years and I had bad signals. Good thing for the radio. As for having camera's in the cab? Sure, right. Let's have camera's on you at work and maybe you won't make so many foolish comments on here when you're supposed to be working.

[Mike_S]

My uncle, a farmer, put me on his lap and let me drive a tractor around a field a couple of times when I was a kid.

Seems a lot of folks on this blog would lock him up as a pedophile cause he was quite proud of being a farmer and got a kick out of teaching nieces and nephews how to drive a tractor.

I didn't know Mr. Sanchez from Adam, but suggest a little civility in public discourse is warranted. There's a reason it is "innocent until proven guilty." Provide direct knowledge of him being anything other than a train enthusiast or show his family and friends a modicum of civility and maturity--they deserve that.

[sriprank]

As a Railroad Engineer for many many years I don't believe the signal was green despite witness statement. There is no dispute that the preceding signal was YELLOW. There is no dispute that the switch at the siding was lined against him.

The very fact that after passing the Yellow and stopping at the station he accelerated to 54mph implies that he simply forgot about the Yellow signal. By the General Rules his maximum speed allowed was 40mph leaving the Station. The Conductor failed in his duty to 'remind' the Engineer of the restricting signal. Now he is trying to cover his butt. Signals can 'appear' to be different colors from a distance due to haze or other factors. That is what the Rules are for and if properly applied they cover this situations.

I think that most people perhaps not all that have any experience with train operations realize that that his texting caused a distraction. They pay Engineers a lot of money to be professional. Sadly Sanchez wasn't and it cost him his life and other innocent victims.