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Sen. Feinstein to herald new safety system for Metrolink trains

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A Los Angeles firefighter douses the smoldering wreckage of Metrolink’s Train 111, which left Union Station in Los Angeles at 3:35 p.m. and was headed to Moorpark. The collision occurred at 4:23 p.m. in Chatsworth.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Firefighters attempt to rescue survivors. “They are in there removing dead bodies that are lying on top of survivors,” said Capt. John Virant of the Los Angeles Fire Department. In the front train carriage, he said, “it was as if somebody had just taken all the seats and thrown them in there.”  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Dozens of people were trapped in the wreckage despite the efforts of hundreds of firefighters, police officers and paramedics. A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who was on the train alerted authorities immediately after the collision.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Several rail cars derailed in the head-on collision and firefighters initially battled a ferocious blaze in part of the wreckage. Of those killed in the accident, authorities said, one is believed to be the Metrolink engineer and another is a Los Angeles Police Department officer.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
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An injured passenger is lifted out of a mangled Metrolink train car. Firefighters swarmed on top of the passenger cars and used their hands, hand tools and power tools to pry them open. Others made their way through the cars looking for victims.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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The Union Pacific freight train and the Metrolink commuter train collided with such force that the lead passenger car was wrapped around the Metrolink locomotive.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Emergency personnel care for injured passengers in a triage area. “The injuries are crushing,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. John Virant, whose Chatsworth-based crew was among the first to arrive.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue workers assist a woman with a head wound. In the initial response, emergency responders smashed windows on the wrecked Metrolink passenger car to reach those trapped inside. Many passengers were carried out on stretchers and backboards.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Injured passengers wait for medical help beside the wreckage. “Victims are on top of victims,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Douglas Barry said after surveying the scene. “Metal and debris is all tangled together. It’s a difficult situation.”  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue personnel treat scores of injured passengers in a triage area, one of which was established at Chatsworth Hills Academy, just yards from the crash site.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Emergency workers search for survivors after the deadly train wreck, which occurred on a steep curve of track near Stoney Point Park, just east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and about a quarter-mile south of the 118 Freeway.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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An injured man is taken to a helicopter to be flown to a hospital. The victims, some of them in critical condition, were taken to several nearby hospitals, including Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, Huntington Hospital, Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center and Northridge Hospital Medical Center.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue workers tend to victims lying under thick red blankets to keep them warm on the cold grass at the Stoney Point Park triage center.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue workers care for victims at a triage center at Stoney Point Park. Many of the more than 135 injured passengers were carried out on stretchers and backboards.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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A triage area is set up at Stoney Point Park in Chatsworth. Hours after the crash, as darkness fell, several victims were still being assessed. Medical personnel wheeled victims on stretchers to an armada of ambulances.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell, with Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, broke down during a news conference Friday evening. On Saturday, Tyrrell announced that Metrolink has blamed the train’s engineer for the crash, saying, “We want to be honest.”  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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A reunification center was established at Chatsworth High School, where family members waited to hear from their loved ones on Metrolink’s Train 111. It was traveling from Los Angeles’ Union Station to Moorpark and had just left the Chatsworth station when the crash occurred at 4:23 p.m. on a 45-degree bend.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Emergency personnel work into the night under floodlights to search for survivors of the head-on collision, one of the worst train crashes in Southern California history.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescuers and firefighters take their hats off as a police officer, who died in the crash, is pulled from the wreckage.  (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)
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Police officers and rescue personnel salute as the body of a Los Angeles Police Department officer, Spree DeSha, 35, is removed late Friday from the wreckage of a Metrolink commuter train. DeSha was on her way home from work when the train collided with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth. The death toll would rise to at least 18 by Saturday morning.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)
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Heavy construction equipment is moved into the train crash scene in Chatsworth to remove the wreckage.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Next to a covered body, firefighters inspect damage to the freight train.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Bodies are taken into a makeshift morgue that the coroner’s office set up near the train crash scene in Chatsworth.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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A body is removed from the destroyed train cars.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Crews had to contend with fires burning in the wreckage.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Chatsworth residents watch from a distance as rescue efforts continue in their neighborhood after the train wreck.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue crews brought in heavy equipment to dismantle the damaged trains and search for survivors.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue workers recover a body from the wreckage early Saturday morning.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
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An NTSB investigator is dwarfed by the mangled wreck of a Metrolink engine in Chatsworth on Saturday.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue workers look at the wreckage early Saturday morning.  (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
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More bodies were found as rescuers pick through the wreckage on Saturday. The search was later called off.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescue workers separate the Metrolink engine from the passenger car it was wedged into Saturday.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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Flowers are left at the Moorpark Metrolink station with a chalk-written note reading, “Bye Chris, your Metrolink buddy.”  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
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A grieving relative, right, of LAPD officer Spree Desha, who was killed in the Metrolink crash, is escorted to a command post Saturday.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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A worker sifts through the wreckage Saturday to clean up hazardous waste.  (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)
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Workers lay new tracks Saturday at the scene of the Metrolink train crash the day before.  (Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)
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Federal Railroad Administration investigators walk the bend in the tracks by a red light signal during their investigation of the crash of Metrolink 111. National Transportation Safety Board investigators at the scene said they were trying to wrap up their examination of the wreckage as quickly as possible. “We are finishing our on-scene investigation,” said investigator Richard Downs.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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A firefighter views Metrolink 111 debris as crews from different agencies comb through the wreckage to determine the cause of the crash.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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On Sunday morning, earthmovers were clearing broken passenger seats, shattered glass, insulation and detritus such as polystyrene cups from both sides of the tracks. Waiting nearby were sheriff’s deputies wearing rubber gloves and holding cardboard boxes in which to store passengers’ personal belongings.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Workers laboring through Saturday night removed the Union Pacific freight train. Late Sunday afternoon, a Metrolink locomotive towed away two passenger cars that were not severely damaged, while workers with blow torches began dismantling a severely damaged passenger car and the engine from the ill-fated train.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Regular riders on the route said the Metrolink train often stops at a junction to wait for an Union Pacific freight train headed toward downtown Los Angeles to switch to the siding. On Friday, however, the Metrolink train proceeded before the freight train had passed, tripping an alarm at the commuter line’s dispatch center.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Workers clean up debris while investigators determine the cause of Friday’s crash in Chatsworth. The Simi Valley-bound Metrolink train was carrying 225 passengers when it collided with a Union Pacific freight train descending into the San Fernando Valley. As of Sunday the crash had claimed 25 lives and left 135 passengers injured.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Federal Railroad Administration investigators examine and document the wreckage of the lead car of Metrolink 111 on Sunday.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Bretta Gilbert places flowers from her congregation, the 1st Presbyterian Church in Burbank, near the tracks where Metrolink 111 crashed Friday afternoon.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Flowers memorialize accident victims between the side tracks, at left, and main line, at right, where Metrolink 111 was traveling. A moment of silence was at houses of worship throughout the Southland today for the victims of a Metrolink crash near Chatsworth that had killed at least 25 people as of Sunday afternoon.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Greg Alter, right, consoles Debbi Cherry and her son Tyler upon viewing the wreckage of the Metrolink train Sunday. Debbi Cherry’s best friend’s daughter, Maria Elena Villalobos, 18, was killed in the accident.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Richard Patterson, a retired MTA driver, views the side tracks, at left, and main line, at right, where Metrolink 111 was traveling. Mourners had placed flowers placed between them as workers cleaned up debris.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Richard Patterson of Los Angeles views a memorial card attached to one of several bouquets of flowers memorialzing the Metrolink 111 victims Sunday.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Investigators view and document the wreckage of the uprighted lead car of Metrolink 111 in Chatsworth Sunday.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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National Transportation Safety Board contractors help with the investigation Sunday of the switch station where two tracks merge into one to determine the cause of Friday’s Metrolink 111 collision in Chatsworth.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Rescuers attend to the injured after the crash. Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. John Virant, whose Chatsworth-based crew was among the first to arrive, described the scene as “total destruction.” “It was chaos,” he said.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
By Dan Weikel
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U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will be on hand Thursday for the debut of a sophisticated rail safety system for Metrolink, a technology she pushed for following the deadly Chatsworth crash in 2008.

Feinstein, a sponsor of the Railway Safety Improvement Act, will be among local dignitaries, Metrolink board members and Federal Railroad Administration officials who have been invited to the unveiling of the commuter line’s positive train control system.

PHOTOS: Metrolink crash in Chatsworth

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Metrolink, which serves six Southern California counties and carries about 42,000 passengers a day, is the first commuter railroad in the nation to put the sophisticated collision avoidance system into operation.

Positive train control relies on global positioning satellites, digital radio communications and computers to monitor trains. In an emergency, it can automatically override the engineer and apply the brakes to avoid an accident.

The debut at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and includes a round-trip demonstration run to Fullerton.

Positive train control is part of an ongoing effort at Metrolink to overcome its poor reputation for safety in the wake of the Chatsworth crash in September 2008. Twenty-five people were killed and 135 injured in a head-on collision with a Union Pacific freight train.

dan.weikel@latimes.com

twitter:@LADeadline16

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Dan Weikel

Dan Weikel covered local aviation, the California high-speed rail project, Metrolink, the MTA and regional transportation issues for the Los Angeles Times before leaving in 2017. He started with the newsroom in 1989 and previously covered courts and transportation in Orange County, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as well as substance abuse, environmental issues and law enforcement as a member of a project team. A native of San Diego, Weikel is a graduate of the UC Santa Barbara and the master’s program at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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