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2008 Chatsworth train collision
The 2008 Chatsworth train collision occurred at 4:22:23 p.m. PDT (23:22:23 UTC) on September 12, 2008, when a Union Pacific Railroad freight train and a Metrolink commuter rail passenger train collided head-on in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.
The scene of the collision was a curved section of single track on the Metrolink Ventura County Line just east of Stoney Point. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the cause of the collision, the Metrolink train ran through a red signal before entering a section of single track where the opposing freight train had been given the right of way by the train dispatcher. The NTSB blamed the Metrolink train's engineer, 46-year-old Robert M. Sanchez, for the collision, concluding that he was distracted by text messages he was sending while on duty. Sanchez was among the 25 killed in the accident.
This mass casualty event brought a massive emergency response by both the city and county of Los Angeles, but the nature and extent of physical trauma taxed the available resources. First responding officer Tom Gustafson described the wreck as "beyond human description". Response included California Emergency Mobile Patrol Search and Rescue (CEMP) as a first responding unit requested by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). With 25 deaths, this was the deadliest collision in Metrolink's history. Many survivors remained hospitalized for an extended period.
Lawyers quickly began filing claims against Metrolink. The collision launched and reinvigorated public debate on a range of topics including public relations, emergency management, and safety, which has driven various regulatory and legislative actions, including the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
Metrolink commuter train #111, consisting of a 250,000-pound (110 t) EMD F59PH locomotive (SCAX 855) pulling three Bombardier BiLevel Coaches, departed Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 3:35 p.m. PDT (22:35 UTC) heading westbound to Moorpark in suburban Ventura County. Approximately forty minutes later, it departed the Chatsworth station with 222 people aboard, and had traveled approximately 1.25 miles (2 km) when it collided head-on with an eastbound Union Pacific local freight train. The freight train was led by two EMD SD70ACe locomotives, #8485 and #8491, and was pulling 17 freight cars. The Metrolink locomotive telescoped rearward into the passenger compartment of the first passenger car and caught fire. All three locomotives, the leading Metrolink passenger car, and ten freight cars were derailed, and both lead locomotives and the passenger car fell over.
The collision occurred after the Metrolink passenger train engineer, 46-year-old Robert M. Sanchez, failed to obey a red stop signal that indicated it was not safe to proceed into the single track section. The train dispatcher's computer at a remote control center in Pomona did not display a warning before the collision according to the NTSB. Metrolink initially reported that the dispatcher tried in vain to contact the train crew to warn them; but the NTSB contradicted this report, saying the dispatcher noticed a problem only after the collision and was notified by the passenger train's conductor first.
Both trains were moving toward each other at the time of the collision. At least one passenger on the Metrolink train reported seeing the freight train moments before impact, coming around the curve. The conductor of the passenger train, who was in the rear car and was injured in the collision, estimated that his train was traveling at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) before it suddenly came to a dead stop after the collision. The NTSB reported that the passenger train was traveling at 42 miles per hour (68 km/h). The freight train was traveling at about the same speed after its engineer triggered the emergency air brake only two seconds before impact, while the Metrolink engineer never applied the brakes on his train.
The collision occurred after the freight train emerged from the 500-foot-long (150 m) tunnel #28, just south of California State Route 118 near the intersection of Heather Lee Lane and Andora Avenue near Chatsworth Hills Academy. The collision was in Chatsworth, a neighborhood of Los Angeles located at the northwestern edge of the San Fernando Valley. The trains collided on the Metrolink Ventura County Line, part of the Montalvo Cutoff, opened by the Southern Pacific Company on March 20, 1904, to improve the alignment of its Coast Line. Metrolink has operated the line since purchasing it in the 1990s from Southern Pacific (now owned by Union Pacific), which retained trackage rights for freight service.
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2008 Chatsworth train collision
The 2008 Chatsworth train collision occurred at 4:22:23 p.m. PDT (23:22:23 UTC) on September 12, 2008, when a Union Pacific Railroad freight train and a Metrolink commuter rail passenger train collided head-on in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.
The scene of the collision was a curved section of single track on the Metrolink Ventura County Line just east of Stoney Point. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the cause of the collision, the Metrolink train ran through a red signal before entering a section of single track where the opposing freight train had been given the right of way by the train dispatcher. The NTSB blamed the Metrolink train's engineer, 46-year-old Robert M. Sanchez, for the collision, concluding that he was distracted by text messages he was sending while on duty. Sanchez was among the 25 killed in the accident.
This mass casualty event brought a massive emergency response by both the city and county of Los Angeles, but the nature and extent of physical trauma taxed the available resources. First responding officer Tom Gustafson described the wreck as "beyond human description". Response included California Emergency Mobile Patrol Search and Rescue (CEMP) as a first responding unit requested by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). With 25 deaths, this was the deadliest collision in Metrolink's history. Many survivors remained hospitalized for an extended period.
Lawyers quickly began filing claims against Metrolink. The collision launched and reinvigorated public debate on a range of topics including public relations, emergency management, and safety, which has driven various regulatory and legislative actions, including the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
Metrolink commuter train #111, consisting of a 250,000-pound (110 t) EMD F59PH locomotive (SCAX 855) pulling three Bombardier BiLevel Coaches, departed Union Station in downtown Los Angeles at 3:35 p.m. PDT (22:35 UTC) heading westbound to Moorpark in suburban Ventura County. Approximately forty minutes later, it departed the Chatsworth station with 222 people aboard, and had traveled approximately 1.25 miles (2 km) when it collided head-on with an eastbound Union Pacific local freight train. The freight train was led by two EMD SD70ACe locomotives, #8485 and #8491, and was pulling 17 freight cars. The Metrolink locomotive telescoped rearward into the passenger compartment of the first passenger car and caught fire. All three locomotives, the leading Metrolink passenger car, and ten freight cars were derailed, and both lead locomotives and the passenger car fell over.
The collision occurred after the Metrolink passenger train engineer, 46-year-old Robert M. Sanchez, failed to obey a red stop signal that indicated it was not safe to proceed into the single track section. The train dispatcher's computer at a remote control center in Pomona did not display a warning before the collision according to the NTSB. Metrolink initially reported that the dispatcher tried in vain to contact the train crew to warn them; but the NTSB contradicted this report, saying the dispatcher noticed a problem only after the collision and was notified by the passenger train's conductor first.
Both trains were moving toward each other at the time of the collision. At least one passenger on the Metrolink train reported seeing the freight train moments before impact, coming around the curve. The conductor of the passenger train, who was in the rear car and was injured in the collision, estimated that his train was traveling at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) before it suddenly came to a dead stop after the collision. The NTSB reported that the passenger train was traveling at 42 miles per hour (68 km/h). The freight train was traveling at about the same speed after its engineer triggered the emergency air brake only two seconds before impact, while the Metrolink engineer never applied the brakes on his train.
The collision occurred after the freight train emerged from the 500-foot-long (150 m) tunnel #28, just south of California State Route 118 near the intersection of Heather Lee Lane and Andora Avenue near Chatsworth Hills Academy. The collision was in Chatsworth, a neighborhood of Los Angeles located at the northwestern edge of the San Fernando Valley. The trains collided on the Metrolink Ventura County Line, part of the Montalvo Cutoff, opened by the Southern Pacific Company on March 20, 1904, to improve the alignment of its Coast Line. Metrolink has operated the line since purchasing it in the 1990s from Southern Pacific (now owned by Union Pacific), which retained trackage rights for freight service.