(The following story by Dug Begley appeared on The Press-Enterprise website on November 25.)
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Metrolink trains will hit the brakes when approaching possible red signals after agency officials stiffened a company rule following a collision in Rialto that injured five.
The new regulation was announced Monday, the same day federal investigators revealed that a Metrolink engineer whose commuter train scraped against a freight train on Thursday may have violated agency policy by failing to announce on the radio that the train was approaching a red light.
The rule requires engineers to slow to 40 mph or less when alerted that an approaching light might be red.
Oaxaca said the rule change focuses on operators beginning to slow as soon as they know they are approaching a red signal.
“The change to add ‘immediately’ was to make it crystal clear what he intent of the rule was,” he said.
It was the second time in less than three months that a Metrolink engineer failed to announce an approach to a red light before hitting a freight train. In September, a Metrolink train collided with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, killing 25 people and injuring 135. The engineer ran the red light, and cell phone records show he was text messaging moments before the collision.
Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said violations of not properly identifying signals are rare. More than 2,000 so-called efficiency tests are conducted each month, he said. Train operators are observed as they work and are checked for proper procedures.
“Observation is done by a train crew supervisor either from inside the control cab or from outside the train as it passes,” Oaxaca said. “Crews are evaluated as to their responses to normal situations as well as unusual situations that are planned in advance for them to encounter during their regular runs.”
Metrolink’s dispatch center also monitors radio communications to and from the trains.
Ridership on the San Bernardino Line — connecting downtown San Bernardino with Union Station in Los Angeles — dipped 10 percent the day after the crash. On Nov. 14, 13,943 riders were on board, Oaxaca said. The total for Nov. 21 was 12,549.
“The numbers are what they are,” Oaxaca said. “I can’t draw any conclusion about any immediate reaction by riders to what happened on Thursday in Rialto.”
He noted other factors such as gasoline prices below $2 per gallon and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday that likely cut into ridership. Oaxaca stressed a one-day decline, even of 10 percent, is not indicative of a lack of faith.
“There was a drop in ridership on the Ventura County Line after Sept. 12 but it had almost completely recovered within just over two weeks,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.