Engineer Sent Texts Just Before Crash

AWOL execs slammed in aftermath of worst crash in decades

(NEWSER) - 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. More»

Teens say engineer was chatting with them just before tragedy

(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. More»

(NEWSER) - The engineer of the passenger train involved in the September collision that killed 25 people near Los Angeles sometimes allowed amateur rail buffs to ride with him and take the controls, the Times reports. Federal investigators today released evidence, including a text from the day of the crash: “I’m REALLY looking forward to getting you in the cab and showing you how to run a locomotive,” Robert Sanchez wrote an enthusiast. More»

Calif. investigators not yet sure if he was using phone at time of fatal crash

(NEWSER) - The engineer involved in Friday’s catastrophic train collision near Los Angeles was texting on the job, the Times reports, but investigators do not yet know whether Robert Sanchez was using his phone when his engine slammed into an oncoming freight train. Federal transit officials are continuing to analyze phone records in the crash that killed 25 people and injured 135 others. More»

Army vet who helped passengers in '05 wreck among Friday's 25 dead

(NEWSER) - 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»