Engineers Practice a Rail Way of Life : Metrolink: Long hours, heavy responsibilities and vital rest breaks fill the days of the people who drive the commuter trains.

A Metrolink engineer’s day starts well before the sun creeps over the San Gabriel Mountains and ends long after it has set in the Pacific.

The engineer is a special breed of rail worker who each day is responsible for $4-million worth of equipment and the lives of about 800 passengers. And then there is the trauma of the almost inevitable accidents that result in deaths or injuries.

But the job is not all long hours and high stress.

Unlike their brethren on freight trains who work unpredictable hours on aging equipment, Metrolink engineers have regular hours, spent in comfortable new engines.

And, in compliance with federal regulations and labor union rules, Metrolink engineers are shuttled every day after their morning trip to a hotel in Chinatown where they can relax for several hours before they start their afternoon trip.

The engineers make the most of those extra-long breaks, knowing they will end once Metrolink adds mid-morning and mid-afternoon service beginning Monday.

Some engineers use the free time to exercise at a gymnasium that was installed for them at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Others enjoy a long lunch and then take in the sights of Los Angeles.

Danny O’Connell, who operates a Metrolink train from Santa Clarita, said he sometimes spends his downtime jogging to Elysian Park, where he plays tennis with a fellow engineer. If time permits, he said, he will catch a movie matinee. On a recent Wednesday, he rode the newest rail line in town--the Metro Rail Red Line. “It was really great,” he said.

But almost always, he leaves a couple of hours free for a nap.

And who could blame him? O’Connell leaves his home in Yucaipa at 3:30 a.m. to arrive at the Santa Clarita rail yard to prepare his train for the 7:30 a.m. run to downtown. His return trip leaves downtown at 6:15 p.m., but O’Connell usually doesn’t get home until about 9:30 p.m., just in time to prepare for bed so he can start the whole cycle over again.

And though the temptation to sleep late is great, he knows the consequences. “I gotta be here on time,” he said. “If I’m late, everyone else is late.”

The engineers earn between $17.50 and $21 an hour, slightly less per hour when they are on downtime between trips.

Many Metrolink engineers at one time or another worked on freight trains, which are usually much older and, unlike Metrolink trains, lack such comforts as air conditioning and heating.

“Passenger trains are like Ferraris compared to freight trains, which are more like 18-wheel diesel trucks,” said Phil Nerkowski, a Metrolink foreman.

In the four months since the service started, the 16 engineers and 16 conductors have become a close-knit group whose members often eat and exercise together. They have even adopted nicknames for one another, such as “Captain Kangaroo,” “Fast Eddy” and “The Weasel.”

On each train the engineer and the conductor work as a team--the conductor checking tickets and overseeing passenger safety, the engineer operating the train. They keep in contact with portable radios. If the engineer is injured or becomes ill, the conductor is trained to bring the train to its destination.

One of the advantages of working for Metrolink, say many engineers, is not being required to wear the traditional bib coveralls and engineer’s hat.

Tom Stokes, a Metrolink engineer who regularly wears a tie and carries a briefcase to work, says the old-fashioned engineer’s outfit is outdated.

“Hey, this is the ‘90s,” he says. “Let’s get real.”

DEATH ON THE TRACKS: A1