Metrolink to consider safety gear

By Steve Hymon

Sept. 26, 2008 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

In his most extensive public statement since the deadly Chatsworth train crash, Metrolink Chief Executive David R. Solow said Thursday that his agency would consider immediately installing devices that could halt or slow trains when a collision was imminent.

However, cautioning that there were potential obstacles to adding the equipment, he provided no assurance that the installation would be done. For the first time, he also revealed that Metrolink locomotives already have the ability to read stop signals that could be sent from tracks lined with such an automatic braking system.

Solow’s remarks came as political leaders continued to press him and Metrolink’s part-time board to swiftly embrace safety reforms and prove they can effectively guide a complex regional rail line that carries 48,000 commuters each weekday.

Speaking before the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- Metrolink’s largest local backer -- Solow said he wasn’t sure the Sept. 12 head-on collision between a Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight train could have been avoided by the most readily available device, known as automatic train stop.

Twenty-five people died and 135 were injured in the crash, which has brought action by state regulators and helped propel a groundbreaking national rail safety bill pending in the Senate. Federal investigators say they cannot yet explain why the Metrolink engineer failed to stop at a light warning that another train was approaching on the same track.

Solow indicated that the automatic train stop system installed on Metrolink engines -- the agency has 38 locomotives -- has not been used across all 388 miles of track because the equipment that makes it work is in place only along a stretch in south Orange County.

At best, Solow said the equipment, which he said dates to the 1940s, could slow trains or perhaps halt them when engineers do not stop at red signals. “In certain instances, [the train stop devices] would slow down the train, and that’s better than not slowing down the train,” he said.

In the two weeks since the accident, Solow has said little publicly, instead deferring comments to members of the Metrolink board. Of the five counties that fund Metrolink, the MTA provides the lion’s share, and its board is chaired by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

In the wake of the crash, Villaraigosa and several other MTA board members have been publicly pushing Metrolink to expand the use of automatic braking devices, put two engineers in each locomotive and add a video camera to locomotives to monitor the crews.

Villaraigosa questioned Solow on Thursday about anti-collision technology. Solow said Metrolink operates in some of the most congested train corridors in the nation, and for that reason, the agency is hoping to one day equip its trains with a more advanced system that could stop any train traveling on any track in the region.

A safety bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday requires railroads to put the most sophisticated system -- called positive train control -- in place by 2015.

Members of the MTA board said they expected Metrolink to move sooner to get an emergency stopping system in place on at least some routes.

The MTA board voted 9 to 0 to issue a series of safety directives to Metrolink. The MTA also said it would try to find $5 million to use toward securing an automatic train stop system for Metrolink while seeking $97 million in rail safety money that may be available from the state.

In addition, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill on Thursday that would allow voters in Los Angeles County to consider a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for more mass transit and road improvements. Metrolink could receive as much as $1.2 billion over the 30-year life of the tax hike.

To expand the existing automatic braking system, Metrolink would need permission from the Federal Railroad Administration. In his testimony, Solow indicated that railroad agency chief Joseph Boardman had told him the agency would give its approval.

Another problem is that about a third of Metrolink’s routes -- totaling more than 100 miles of track -- are on tracks owned by freight lines.

“We have at this point no way to obligate the freight railroads to do anything,” said Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca. (The federal safety law, however, would eventually require all freight trains to have positive train control systems if they carry hazardous materials.)

Also on Thursday, California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey made “an urgent request” for the Federal Railroad Administration to issue rules requiring automatic train stopping devices on all California tracks shared by freight and commuter trains.

The proposal to put two engineers in each cab was not discussed Thursday, but could also prove troublesome for Metrolink. “There isn’t in the industry this pool of engineers looking for work,” Oaxaca said.

John Tolman, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union, said that two sets of eyes are better than one. “When you get on a commercial airplane, there’s always a pilot and a co-pilot,” he said. “Would you feel OK if there was just a pilot?”

There is another reason that Metrolink may have to hire more engineers in the future in any event: the rail safety bill before Congress cuts the number of hours that freight crews could work each month to 276 and requires the Federal Railroad Administration to draw up a similar rule for passenger train crews.

It’s an important issue for Metrolink because its engineers often work split-shifts that equal more hours. Some could see their pay reduced.

Tolman said that although his organization has taken no formal position on the federal bill, he believes the 276-hour limit is arbitrary. He said there was “no scientific evidence” to show that limit would effectively reduce fatigue, which federal officials say frequently is a factor in rail accidents.

MTA board member and L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky also asked Metrolink officials to put seat belts in the trains to prevent injuries and deaths when people are thrown in a crash. “This is a no-brainer,” he said. “I would really ask you to open not just your mind and pocketbook but your heart, your collective heart, to doing this. . . . This is the quickest thing that you can do.”

Solow said that he would consult federal studies on the issue. He also said that new cab cars that Metrolink is ordering would have seats that only face backward when the cab car is leading the train.

“Everything is on the table. It’s simply not acceptable to wait until 2015,” as allowed by the federal rail bill, “for an automatic train-stopping system,” Keith Millhouse, Metrolink vice chairman, told the MTA board. “The bottom line is if there’s anything that can be done in the interim I want it analyzed, I want it looked at and I want our experts telling us if it should be done.”

The Metrolink board is scheduled to begin considering the proposals at its meeting at 10 a.m. today in Los Angeles. Villaraigosa implied Thursday that he was going to use his bully pulpit as mayor to keep the pressure on.

“We expect that just as there was unanimity on the MTA board,” Villaraigosa said after the meeting, “there will be a consensus in the region that we need to move as quickly as possible to implement measures now to protect public safety.”

Asked when he expected Metrolink to act, Villaraigosa replied: “Beginning tomorrow.”

steve.hymon@latimes.com

Times staff writers Rich Connell and Robert J. Lopez contributed to this report from Los Angeles and Cynthia Dizikes contributed from Washington.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Hospital report

Here are the latest figures on those injured in the Sept. 12 crash of a Metrolink commuter train and a freight train in Chatsworth:

* 86 Metrolink riders were hospitalized after the crash

* 16 were still hospitalized Thursday

* 3 were in critical condition

* 1 was in serious condition

* 1 was in stable condition

* 11 were in fair or good condition