Up to 15 Dead in LA Train Smashup

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• Engineer Sent Texts Just Before Crash

  Oct 1, 08 3:36 PM CDT
  The engineer steering the Metrolink train that crashed last month sent a text message 22 seconds before the fatal collision, the Los Angeles Times reports. Robert M. Sanchez sent 29 text messages Sept. 12, a federal investigation reveals. The commuter train ran through a red signal and hit a freight train, killing 25 and injuring 135 in California's worst modern train collision. More »

• Is Metrolink Up to the Job? Train Crash Raises Doubts

  Sep 20, 08 2:05 PM CDT
  The country's deadliest train crash in decades has focused attention on mass transit carrier Metrolink, which operates on a shoestring budget and has many wondering whether it's up to the job, the Los Angeles Times reports. Five Southern California counties chip in to run the system, set up with relatively few employees to be light on expenses and low on bureaucracy. That means its board must grapple with managing a maze of subcontracts as well as the challenges of running the sprawling system.
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• Double Jeopardy: Victim Was 'Hero' of Earlier LA Crash

  Sep 16, 08 10:40 AM CDT
  Though Gregory Lintner walked away from a 2005 Metrolink crash that killed 11 people—eight in his train car—he remained haunted by it until last week, when he relived the nightmare. Lintner was one of 25 people who died during Friday’s ill-fated California ride, the Chicago Tribune reports. “He told me he never got off that train,” his wife says of the earlier accident. More »

• LA Train Riders Mourn Victims

  Sep 15, 08 3:19 PM CDT
  Los Angeles' mayor joined commuters on half-empty trains today, saying they were still "the safest option for commuters” despite the Friday crash that killed 25. Stations were visibly quieter as Metrolink workers assured passengers the trains were safer than freeways, the Times reports. While many stayed home, one rider says, "I needed to connect with my train people to make sure they were OK." More »

• Texting May Have Led to LA Train Crash

  Sep 15, 08 7:06 AM CDT
  The engineer in a Los Angeles train crash that killed 25 people may have been text-messaging with two teenagers before running a stop signal, CNN reports. Federal investigators will be studying the phone records of the teenagers, one of whom told local KCBS-TV that he had been chatting about his interest in trains with the engineer and received a text a minute before the crash.
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