Friday’s Metrolink train accident initiated a severe battle between Metrolink and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Metrolink’s conclusive argument that the engineer was at fault for jumping the red signal, leading to the devastating collision with the Union Pacific Freight Train, has been criticized by Kitty Huggins-a member of NTSB. This led the federal officials on Sunday to investigate into the matter, whether the signal was broken or unheeded.
Huggins said that the computer reading showed that the red signal had been displayed, however, the investigators wanted to clarify its aptness. There were four signals between De Soto Avenue and Nashville Street that the train had crossed before reaching the site of accident. If the signals would have indicated a red or a yellow signal to stop or at least slow the train, the accident could have been prevented, that led to the death of 25 people and leaving 135 others injured.
The wreckage was pulled apart by the authorities to clear the tracks and restore the train service by evening. Several anguished relatives and acquaintances of the victims gathered at Simi Valley, the train’s ultimate destination, to pray for the deceased.
In normal circumstances the engineer and the conductor, both posted at different ends of the train call each other to clarify the signal. However, no such conversation has been recorded in the train that faced the mishap. The data recorder mentioned that the train was running at a speed of 42mph when it passed the switch that was blown through by the train.
A Metrolink dispatcher in Pomona said that he had set the signal for the smooth passage of both the trains. He had tried to inform the train about the impending disaster. This assertion of Metrolink was disputed by Higgins, citing the fact that the dispatcher was late in informing the train.
Higgins also mentioned that the investigators are waiting for the toxicology report of the engineer. A union of 125,000 railway workers reacted against the allegation of metrolink. Their spokesperson said that the engineer might have died of heart-attack. He had ten years of experience and couldn’t have been so careless. The wreckage has caused enormous damage leaving almost 1000 feet of tracks to be repaired.
