NTSB calls for cameras, voice-recorders in train cabs

Published 8:12 pm Thursday, January 21, 2010

WASHINGTON — Federal safety officials called for railroads to install cameras and voice recorders in every locomotive cab in the nation as they publicly warned today that cellphone texting by engineers and conductors was a growing and lethal danger.

The call came as members of the National Transportation Safety Board publicly concluded their investigation into the deadly collision of a commuter train and a freight train in Los Angeles in 2008 — a crash they blamed on a commuter-train engineer who passed a stop signal as he sent a message from his phone.

The engineer’s prolific text messaging was “egregious,” NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman said, citing records of his phone use. “This was an accident waiting to happen.”

In general, text messaging by train crews “is becoming more widespread,” Hersman said after the board’s public session in Washington ended its 16-month inquiry into the Los Angeles crash. “I think we have to nip this in the bud right now.”

The board’s sharp language and findings blaming the engineer could shift tens of millions of dollars in liability away from Metrolink, a taxpayer-subsidized five-county agency, and onto the private contractor that hired and supervised the engineer, Connex Railroad, some officials said. Connex and Metrolink have sued each other over financial responsibility, and Metrolink has noted that the contractor is responsible for the “willful misconduct” of its employees.

The collision, which left 25 dead and 135 injured, could have been prevented by an automatic braking system that NTSB regulators had long recommended, board members noted after the daylong meeting. The crash in Los Angeles’ Chatsworth section prompted Congress to pass a bill requiring railroads to install such systems within six years.

The panel’s call for video surveillance of train crews in tens of thousands of locomotive control cabs moves a hotly contested Southern California issue to the national stage. After the accident, Metrolink put cameras in its trains. The powerful Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen challenged the action in court, claiming cameras are an invasion of privacy and won’t prevent accidents.

But the safety board found today that other forms of enforcing bans on electronic devices, chiefly field inspections, have proved inadequate. Metrolink had a policy that prohibited cellphones from even being turned on in control cabs.

Only constant monitoring would have stopped engineer Robert M. Sanchez, who died in the collision, Hersman said. Cameras would mean “management cannot turn a blind eye to bad actors who are not doing their job,” she said.

Records also show the Union Pacific conductor on the train that Metrolink 111 slammed into was improperly texting, Hersman noted.

The board’s video camera recommendation could have a dramatic effect on the railroad industry. “This is a game changer,” she said. “We’re still riding on 19th century technology that relies on using an extra person in the cab” to ensure compliance with some key safety rules.

Whether the recommendations will be implemented depends on the Federal Railroad Administration, which regulates the industry. Both the railroad administration and the American Association of Railroads said today they would study the issue. Experts say legal claims by survivors of those killed or injured in the crash could exceed a $200 million federal liability cap. Metrolink had $150 million in insurance at the time of the crash.

R. Edward Pfiester Jr., a lead attorney representing crash victims and relatives, said the NTSB’s findings could bolster lawsuits against Connex because of the engineer’s misconduct and the company’s lack of effective enforcement.