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From the pages of Railway News

Ban on train drivers using mobile phones after 26 killed in California train crash

TRAIN drivers in California are to be prohibited from using mobile phones while in charge of trains following reports that the driver of a passenger train that collided head on with a freight train, killing 26 people and seriously injuring many more, was texting rail enthusiasts moments before the collision.

The crash occurred at Chatsworth, north of Los Angeles, when a three-car double-deck Metrolink passenger train, operated by a driver employed by Connex Railroad—a subsidiary of Veolia Transportation—collided with a Union Pacific multi-modal service on a single line section of track.

The Connex driver, who is thought to be among the dead, has been blamed. A Metrolink spokeswoman said that a preliminary investigation showed the engineer (driver) employed by Connex/Veolia Transportation failed to stop at a red signal.

A local TV station on the CBS network, CBS-2 TV, has shown an interview with a local teenager saying he exchanged a brief text message with the driver shortly before the crash.

The TV station reported that Nick Williams was among a group of young people who had befriended the train driver and asked him questions about his work.

A CBS-2 reporter showed viewers Williams’ cell phone, which appeared to carry a text message, timed moments before the crash, received from the driver of the passenger train.

The president of the California Public Utilities Commission has now said he will seek an emergency order prohibiting the use of cell phones while operating a train in the state.

A US Federal Railroad Administration spokesman said there was no existing federal regulation regarding the use of cell phones by rail employees on the job. Metrolink, however, said it prohibits rail workers from using cell phones on the job.

The disaster occurred on a horseshoe-shaped curve, and it is unlikely that either train driver saw the other train approaching until the last minute, and had little chance to apply brakes.

US National Transportation Safety Board investigators have been assessing the scene of the wreck. The force of the impact was so great that the Metrolink locomotive was forced back into the following passenger car.

Of a total of 220 passengers on the Metrolink train, 135 were injured, with 81 taken to hospitals in serious or critical condition.

The death toll reached 26 when two of the critically injured died in hospital.