Engineer in fatal train crash failed to stop at red light, was sending text messages

Published 8:50 am Tuesday, March 3, 2009

WASHINGTON — An engineer failed to stop at a red light and was sending text messages seconds before his commuter train slammed head-on into a freight train in a crash that killed 25 people and injured 135 last year in California, federal investigators said Tuesday.

On the first of a two-day hearing by the National Transportation Safety Board, investigators sketched out the days and minutes leading up to the deadly crash for the engineer of the Metrolink train, Robert Sanchez, and personnel on the Union Pacific freight train. The two trains ended up on the same shared track; Sanchez was among the dead.

Investigators said there was no sign of mechanical error involving the Metrolink train that was carrying 220 passengers.

“All the evidence is consistent with the Metrolink engineer failing to stop at a red signal,” investigator Wayne Workman told the NTSB.

Workman said Sanchez sent and received 57 text messages while on duty, including one message 22 seconds before his train slammed into the freight train. Investigators said the pattern of text messages was not uncommon for the engineer.

Workman said text message records also indicated Sanchez had allowed unauthorized personnel into the locomotive cab three days before the accident. One of those individuals was allowed to sit at the controls while the train was operating. Text messages on the day of the accident indicated he intended to allow another person into the cab to run the train later that evening.

The texts indicated Sanchez was planning to let him run the train between four stations on the evening of the crash.

“I’m gonna do all the radio talkin’ … ur gonna run the locomotive &I’m gonna tell u how to do it,” Sanchez wrote in one text.

The documents do not identify the person, but after the crash two teenage train buffs told KCBS-TV that they received a text message from Sanchez minutes before the crash.

“Both company and federal rules prohibit these activities,” Workman said.

Investigators also found that the conductor of the Union Pacific train also received and sent numerous text messages while on duty. The conductor also tested positive for marijuana, but he was not driving the train at the time of the crash.

The NTSB panel conducting the hearing focused on cell phone use by train crew members; the operation of trackside signals designed to prevent collisions; and oversight and compliance with safety procedures during the Sept. 12 crash in suburban Chatsworth.

Robert Heldenbrand, the conductor of the Metrolink train, contends the signal light was actually green as the train left the station about a mile from the crash site.

Heldenbrand also told investigators he had warned a supervisor months before the deadly crash about Sanchez’s on-duty cell phone use. He said he followed up with the same supervisor two days before the collision and was assured his concern would be addressed.

His contention is the basis of dozens of negligence lawsuits that allege Connex Railroad LLC, the contractor that provides engineers who run Metrolink trains, knew about the cell phone use but did nothing about it.

Connex and Metrolink said they have strict cell phone policies prohibiting use of cell phones by on-duty employees.

The crash prompted a federal ban on cell phone use by rail workers and led Congress to pass a new law requiring so-called “positive train control” technology that can stop a train if it’s headed for a collision.

Metrolink also pushed for a number of safety measures, including a video camera system to monitor locomotive crews.