Mark’s Soap Box

see more pics here: NYT train slide show

Wow! Things are getting hot for Metrolink. It appears that the driver may have been texting while driving, and spokeswoman for Metrolink resigns over comments.

It’s our fault, maybe

A spokeswoman made an incredibly stupid comment about the crash of a Metrolink commuter train. She has been fired, rightly so.

LOS ANGELES — Three days after a commuter train crash killed 25 people, the spokeswoman for rail agency Metrolink resigned after being criticized for public statements she made over the weekend indicating that the agency was responsible for the accident

What the hell was she thinking? Denise Tyrrell was “resigned” — that means fired — after an emergency board meeting at which the board distanced it’s self from the comments, and the commentator.

Metrolink Board Chair Ron Roberts said Sunday that the agency’s board hadn’t authorized, or known beforehand, that Ms. Tyrrell would tell the media so soon after the crash that the Metrolink engineer had failed to heed a red-warning signal, which led to the fiery head-on collision between the commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train in Los Angeles’s Chatsworth neighborhood. The swift admission of responsibility and apparent cause also angered NTSB officials who had arrived at the crash scene barely an hour before and had just begun their own investigation.

Oh good, people die and then you piss off the investigating board. Nice, job. However she may be right.

“The statement was and is accurate,” Ms. Tyrell said in an email. “It was the right thing to do regardless of how ticked off it made the NTSB.”

If the charges of text messaging by the conductor are accurate, then she may be correct. From the perspective of a Crisis Management Team, it may have been the right thing to do, but she should have waited to clear it with the board; so everyone could have their ducks in a row.

Guess the law only covers cars

Train Engineer could have been texting while driving train. Just recently California made it against the law to use a cell phone without a headset. Wonder if it covers trains as well?

LOS ANGELES — Federal officials investigating a commuter rail collision that killed 25 people said they want to review cell phone records to determine if an engineer blamed for running a stop signal before the crash may have been text messaging at the time.

Sadly the kids who befriended him are the ones coming forward to make the accusations.

Rail rider-ship was down on Monday morning. You think? Oh yes, it was way down. Mayor Antonio “I’m a corrupt showboat” Villaraigosa boarded one of the trains. It’s not said how long he rode it.

“I want to dispel any fears about taking the train,” the mayor said. “Safety has to be our number one concern, and while accidents can and do happen, taking the train is still one of the safest and fastest options for commuters.”

If safety is your number one concern then stop being a “Sanctuary City.”

The Engineer ran a red light, and was killed in the collision. His cell phone has not been found. Investigators are looking at cell records for the kids who say they received messages.

The usual outcry over safety is going on, and the usual liberal spend money reaction is in full force.

[NTSB board member Kitty] Higgins said she believed the crash could have been prevented with technology that stops a train on the track when a signal is disobeyed. The technology was not in place where the collision occurred.

“I believe this technology could have prevented the accident. If he ran the signal the train would have been stopped. I’ve seen it tested. It makes a difference,” she said.

“What’s it going to take? How many more accidents are we going to have to see like this that could have been prevented if this technology were in place?” Higgins said.

Notice he didn’t say he was SURE it would work. Typical.

Tags: metrolink, chatsworth, commuter rail, railroad, amtrak, blue line, red line, green line, coaster, train