OPRRMS asked what's my solution: It appears that the Metrolink board is already working on terminating the Veolia contract, a good start. I think at least two people need to leave Metrolink: the CEO, on whose watch this occurred, and whoever was directly in charge of the Veolia contract and compliance. Wouldn't you agree? And on any future contract, you wouldn't want to have any Veolia supervisors rehired.

It's still very, very hard for me to imagine something like a texting habit developing out of the blue with nobody noticing. The information we have is that Sanchez was texting these guys while on duty, from the cab. I'd be very, very interested in what the supervisors were doing from day to day while this was happening, but I also think for Metrolink a list of people who shouldn't be rehired by any contractor is in order.

The LA Times has reported comments from several retired NTSB types who say the pattern of accidents is indicative of a real problem with corporate culture. I'm a little puzzled that you don't seem to be grasping this. My uncle rose to be CEO of a Class I, but he was in and out of the rail industry, and he wound up saying he didn't like railroaders. He did hire a head of human resources who sorta-kinda knew where the bodies were buried, and they turned the Class I around. But it was a corporate culture problem.