STATter 911

Above is some of the early video from the Metrolink commuter train collision with a Union Pacific freight train during Friday afternoon's rush hour. As of 12:30 AM the death toll was at 15. We heard from one source who expected that number to go higher.

FireGeezer jumped on this quickly and has some early coverage.

Some of the most detailed information is from The Los Angeles Times. Click here for the paper's photo gallery.

More pictures from LAFD's Photostream.

The crash involved Metrolink Train 111. According to Metrolink's schedule, the odd number trains leave Union Station in Los Angeles on the Ventura Line, heading toward Montalvo.

Looking at YouTube videos from railfans who have well documented this line, it appears the locomotives are generally at the lead of the train traveling outbound from Los Angeles. It is possible, that without a heavy locomotive up front, this crash could have been even worse (not that there appears to be much left of the Metrolink locomotive).

Critics have raised this issue after previous collisions involving trains in the push mode, with the locomotive in the rear. One of those was a fiery crash in Silver Spring, MD, that killed 11 people on February 16, 1996. A MARC communter train, in the push mode, with the control cab at the lead, collided with the locomotives of Amtrak's Capitol Limited.

Eleven people also died when a Metrolink train in the push mode first hit a car and then two other trains in Glendale, CA on January 26, 2005. There have been moves to require the strengthening of the control cabs.

Where this crash occurred is just east of a tunnel at Topango Canyon Boulevard. It is a single track. Metrolink #111 would have just left the Chatsworth Station. From Chatsworth heading north the track will make a left turn heading west through Stoney Point Park.

Looking at satellite images on Google Maps there is a second track through the Chatsworth Station area to just before where the track curves in the park area. One would assume that is where these two trains were supposed to meet.

The Los Angeles Times confirms this in an interview with a retired engineer:

Tom Dinger, an engineer who retired last year from Amtrak after a 43-year railroad career, said normal procedure called for the northbound passenger train to pull into a rail siding at the Chatsworth station to allow the southbound freight train to pass. He said he had steered through that stretch of track hundreds of times. Between Chatsworth and Simi Valley there is only one set of tracks because of narrow tunnels that trains use to go through the Santa Susana Pass.

He said he talked by telephone with Metrolink conductor Bob Hildebrand, who was injured. Hildebrand told him he was in the rear club car when the trains collided. "He told me they were going 40 mph and came to a dead stop," Dinger said.

In the video below, a railfan, shooting from the Chatsworth Station, records a previous meet between Metrolink #111 and a Union Pacific freight (the Leesdale Local) at about the same time of day.

The Los Angeles Times talked to one expert about how this could have happened:

Professor James Moore, the director of the transportation engineering program at USC, said he was surprised by the collision because a great deal of money has been invested in technology designed to prevent such head-on crashes.

"This is quite different from the Glendale crash. In that one, there was a Jeep Cherokee on the tracks that was not supposed to be there," Moore said. "These trains were rolling assets that were subject to active management, and the system is designed to make sure they do not occupy the same place at the same time.

"Moore said he suspected that the "geometry" of the site -- referring to the severe angle of the bend -- may have played a role.

Below are a collection of news videos from coverage of yesterday's crash.

The video below is a railfan's efforts to show the underside of a Metrolink train.

# posted by Dave Statter @ 2:00 AM