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December 2, 2008 8:42:40 PM CST

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Texting May Have Led to LA Train Crash

Posted Sep 15, 08 7:06 AM CDT in US 

(Newser) – 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.

“We are going to be obtaining records” from the teens’ and engineer's cell phones "to begin to determine what might have happened,” said a spokesman for the investigators. The train had been rounding a curve at 42mph in a 40mph zone, said a Metrolink representative. The engineer, who was killed in the crash, was a subcontractor for another company. Engineers are not allowed to use outside electronics such as a cell phone while working.

Sources CNN, KCBS-TV

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Investigators check the mangled remains of the Metrolink commuter train in Chatsworth, Calif., Sept. 14, 2008.   (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
National Transportation and Safety board member Kitty Higgins said two teens' cell phones would be studied in the crash probe.   (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)
Investigators check out the inside of a Metrolink commuter train car in Chatsworth, Calif. on Sunday Sept. 14, 2008.   (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
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You Tube posters say this video is a tribute to the conductor driving the train in the deadly Los Angeles crash that killed 25.   (Denniss7420)

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