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Texting May Have Led to LA Train Crash

Teens say engineer was chatting with them just before tragedy

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 15, 2008 7:06 AM CDT

(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.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

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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Texting May Have Led to LA Train Crash