2008 Chatsworth train collision: Difference between revisions
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== The collision == |
== The collision == |
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[[Metrolink (Southern California)|Metrolink]] commuter train 111, consisting of a locomotive pulling three cars and carrying 222 people, left [[Union Station (Los Angeles)|Union Station]] in downtown [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] at 15:35 PDT (22:35 UTC), and was traveling westbound to [[Moorpark (Amtrak station)|Moorpark]]. It was about 1.25 miles out of the [[Chatsworth (Amtrak station)|Chatsworth station]] when it collided head-on with an eastbound [[Union Pacific Railroad|Union Pacific]] freight train emerging from |
[[Metrolink (Southern California)|Metrolink]] commuter train 111, consisting of a locomotive pulling three cars and carrying 222 people, left [[Union Station (Los Angeles)|Union Station]] in downtown [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] at 15:35 PDT (22:35 UTC), and was traveling westbound to [[Moorpark (Amtrak station)|Moorpark]]. It was about 1.25 miles out of the [[Chatsworth (Amtrak station)|Chatsworth station]] when it collided head-on with an eastbound [[Union Pacific Railroad|Union Pacific]] freight train emerging from the 500-foot-long (150-meter-long) tunnel #28. The accident scene was near Heather Lee Lane and Andora Avenue in the [[Chatsworth, California|Chatsworth]] area of the [[San Fernando Valley]] near [[Chatsworth Hills Academy]].<ref name="Los Angeles Business Journal">{{cite web |url=http://www.labusinessjournal.com/article.asp?aID=759699502.7805576.1681407.5054153.8224803.833&aID2=129330 |title= Metrolink Train Collides with Freight Train in L.A. |publisher=''[[Los Angeles Business Journal]]'' |accessdate=2008-09-12|date=2008-09-13}}</ref> |
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The Metrolink locomotive [[Telescoping (railway)|telescoped]] into the passenger compartment of the leading passenger car and caught fire.<ref name="kabc">{{cite web |url=http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local&id=6388256 |title=Commuters killed in head-on train crash |date=2008-09-12 |publisher=[[KABC-TV]] |accessdate=2008-09-12}}</ref> Three locomotives, the leading Metrolink passenger car, and seven freight cars were derailed. The Metrolink locomotive, passenger car and the first of two Union Pacific locomotives fell on their sides.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/gallery?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6388275&photo=5 |title=Slideshow: Metrolink train crash |date=2008-09-12 |accessdate=2008-09-12 |publisher=[[KABC-TV]]}}</ref> |
The Metrolink locomotive [[Telescoping (railway)|telescoped]] into the passenger compartment of the leading passenger car and caught fire.<ref name="kabc">{{cite web |url=http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local&id=6388256 |title=Commuters killed in head-on train crash |date=2008-09-12 |publisher=[[KABC-TV]] |accessdate=2008-09-12}}</ref> Three locomotives, the leading Metrolink passenger car, and seven freight cars were derailed. The Metrolink locomotive, passenger car and the first of two Union Pacific locomotives fell on their sides.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/gallery?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6388275&photo=5 |title=Slideshow: Metrolink train crash |date=2008-09-12 |accessdate=2008-09-12 |publisher=[[KABC-TV]]}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 05:28, 14 September 2008
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. (September 2008) |
| 2008 Chatsworth train collision | |
|---|---|
| File:Chatsworth Train Collision 20080913-022324.jpg Rescue workers in front of the Metrolink locomotive laying on its side after penetrating the lead passenger car (left) | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Date | September 12, 2008 16:23 PDT (23:23 UTC) |
| Location | Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California 34°16′19″N 118°36′5″W / 34.27194°N 118.60139°W |
| Line | Ventura County Line |
| Cause | Signal passed at Danger[1] |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | Metrolink passenger train Union Pacific freight train |
| Deaths | 25 |
| Injured | 135[2] |
The 2008 Chatsworth Metrolink collision occured at 16:23 PDT (23:23 UTC) on September 12, 2008, when a Union Pacific freight train and a Metrolink commuter train collided head-on in the Chatsworth district of Los Angeles, California in the United States. The scene of the accident was a curved section of single track on the Metrolink Ventura County Line just east of Stoney Point. The collision is the deadliest railway accident in Metrolink's history, and the worst in the United States since the Big Bayou Canot train disaster in 1993.
The collision
Metrolink commuter train 111, consisting of a locomotive pulling three cars and carrying 222 people, left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 15:35 PDT (22:35 UTC), and was traveling westbound to Moorpark. It was about 1.25 miles out of the Chatsworth station when it collided head-on with an eastbound Union Pacific freight train emerging from the 500-foot-long (150-meter-long) tunnel #28. The accident scene was near Heather Lee Lane and Andora Avenue in the Chatsworth area of the San Fernando Valley near Chatsworth Hills Academy.[3] The Metrolink locomotive telescoped into the passenger compartment of the leading passenger car and caught fire.[4] Three locomotives, the leading Metrolink passenger car, and seven freight cars were derailed. The Metrolink locomotive, passenger car and the first of two Union Pacific locomotives fell on their sides.[5]
The trains collided on the Metrolink Ventura County Line, part of the Montalvo Cutoff opened by the Southern Pacific Company on March 20, 1904 to improve the alignment of its Coast Line.[6] Metrolink bought the line in the 1990s from Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific), which retained trackage rights for freight service. Both trains were on the same section of single track that runs between the Chatsworth Station and the Santa Susana Pass, where the line returns to double track again as it enters the Simi Valley.[7] Three tunnels under the pass are only wide enough to support a single track, and it would be very costly to widen them.[7] The railway signal system is designed to ensure that trains wait on the double track section while a train is proceeding in the other direction on the single track. The signal system was upgraded in the 1990s to support Metrolink commuter rail services, and Richard Stanger, the executive director of Metrolink in its infant years from 1991 to 1998, said the system had functioned without trouble in the past.[7] The Metrolink train would normally wait until the Union Pacific freight train passed before proceeding.[8]
The collision occurred after the Metrolink passenger train's engineer apparently failed to obey a red stop signal that indicated it was not safe to proceed into the single track section.[9] Both trains were reported to be moving toward each other at the time of the collision. At least one passenger on the Metrolink train reported seeing the freight train just moments before impact, coming around the curve in the track where the collision occurred, with insufficient time to stop.[2] The conductor of the passenger train, who was in the rear car and was injured in the accident, estimated that his train was traveling at 40 miles per hour (65 kilometers per hour) before it suddenly came to a dead stop after the collision.[2]
Casualties
On the day after the accident, 24 bodies had been recovered from the scene, and one victim had died at a nearby hospital after life support was terminated, but the death toll was expected to rise due the large number of victims still in critical condition.[10] A total of 135 were reported injured, 47 of them critically.[4] Approximately 100 people were taken to hospitals, with 40 of them medevaced by air ambulance helicopters. Los Angeles City Fire captain Steve Ruda reported that the high number of critically injured passengers taxed the area's emergency response capabilities, and patients were distributed to all 12 trauma centers in Los Angeles County.[8]
Capt. Ruda said his firefighters had never seen such carnage. Austin Walbridge, a train passenger, told a TV news reporter that the interior of the train was "bloody, a mess. Just a disaster. It was horrible."[8] One off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer was among the confirmed deaths, as was the Metrolink engineer,[2] an employee of Veolia Transportation.[11][12] Four other crew members of the two trains reportedly survived, although one body recovered from the cab of the freight locomotive was believed to be the freight train conductor.[10]
The search for victims came to an end shortly after 14:30 PDT on September 13, approximately 22 hours after the collision.[10]
Investigation
Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell disclosed the following morning that a preliminary investigation of dispatch records and computers showed the engineer of the Metrolink passenger train failed to stop his train for a red railway signal, which indicated his train did not have permission to proceed. She was quoted as saying, “We don't know how the error happened, but this is what we believe happened. We believe it was our engineer who failed to stop at the signal.”[9] Tyrell said that if the engineer obeyed the signal, the accident would not have occurred. However Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metrolink board member Don Knabe said it was premature to blame the engineer, speculating that "there could always be a technical malfunction where ... there was a green light both ways."[13]
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the official investigation to determine the probable cause, but NTSB officials had not commented on the accident prior to the Metrolink statement. In a subsequent press conference at the scene two hours after Tyrrell's comments, an NTSB official cautioned that the cause of the accident is still under investigation. NTSB would be studying the data from the train event recorders which had been recovered by the fourteen NTSB investigators working at the scene. The Metrolink train had two data recorders, and the freight train had a data and a video recorder. The official said they would collect other evidence and interview witnesses to try to officially report on why the accident happened within a year's time. The four surviving crew members had been interviewed within 24 hours after the accident.[10] The Federal Railroad Administration will also investigate to determine if any federal safety regulations were violated.
Local television news reported that the engineer was exchanging brief text messages with a teenage train enthusiast while operating the train, with the last message time-stamped one minute before the collision.[14][15]
See also
- Glendale train crash – the second deadliest Metrolink accident
- Signal passed at danger
References
- ^ Melago, Carrie (2008-09-13). "Catastrophic Ca. train wreck caused when Metrolink engineer failed to stop, say rail officials". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 2008-09-13.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c d Gold, Scott; Pierson, David; Winton, Richard (2008-09-12). "At least 15 reported dead as Metrolink cars crash into freight train". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Metrolink Train Collides with Freight Train in L.A." Los Angeles Business Journal. 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b "Commuters killed in head-on train crash". KABC-TV. 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
- ^ "Slideshow: Metrolink train crash". KABC-TV. 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
- ^ Donovan L. Hofsommer, The Southern Pacific, 1901-1985, Texas A&M University Press (1986), p. 18
- ^ a b c Hymon, Steve. "Metrolink: A system forged from freight lines". Bottleneck Blog at Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c "Death toll rises to 23 in train crash near LA: governor". AFP via Google News. 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
- ^ a b Flaccus, Gillian. "Metrolink: Commuter train engineer failed to stop". AP via The San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b c d Bermudez, Esmeralda; Holland, Gale; Therolf, Garrett (2008-09-13). "Metrolink says its engineer failed to heed signal in Chatsworth train crash". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Metrolink spokesperson Denise Tyrell, 2008-09-12
- ^ Landsberg, Mitchell; Rubin, Joel; Therolf, Garrett (2008-09-13). "Metrolink train crash: 18th victim found in rubble in Chatsworth". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Blood, Michael R. (2008-09-13). "'Rush to judgment' in deadly LA rail crash?". AP via The Press-Enterprise. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Report: Metrolink Engineer May Have Been Text Messaging". KTLA News. 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Engineer In Deadly Metrolink Crash Sent Text Message Just Before Collision". KCAL-TV. 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-13.