Metrolink pushing forward with system designed to prevent crashes
More than three years after the deadly Metrolink crash in Chatsworth, the commuter railroad is forging ahead with the most sophisticated collision avoidance system in the country despite efforts in Congress to relax requirements to install the safety improvement nationwide.
Metrolink already has made substantial progress developing its $201-million positive train control system, which uses an array of electronic gear to monitor and, if necessary, take control of trains to prevent collisions and derailments.
The vast majority of track-side communication stations and radio antennas for the new system have been installed along the railroad’s 512 miles of track. Other equipment has been added to a group of locomotives, and a sophisticated dispatching system is under development.
-- Dan Weikel and Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times
Photo: A Metrolink employee keeps an eye on traffic as a train passes by the Doran St. and San Fernando Road crossing in Glendale on Friday, June 17, 2011. Credit: Times Community News