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Barbara Boxer P.O.'ed At Metrolink
Author: Holly Gibson
Date: 09-19-2009 - 12:56
Metrolink performance on key reform stuns Boxer
The senator is shocked that 87% of trains still have just one crew member in the cab a year after the Chatsworth crash.
By Rich Connell, Los Angeles Times
September 19, 2009
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said Friday she was "stunned" that the Metrolink regional rail service still runs 87% of its trains with only a single crew member in the control cab.
The agency had said it would double up on crew members in locomotives as part of a series of safety reforms after the Chatsworth crash a year ago that killed 25 and injured 135. The so-called second-set-of-eyes plan was a hastily implemented reform after investigators found that the Metrolink engineer had been text messaging on a cellphone and apparently ran a red light just before crashing head-on into a freight train.
Agency officials said that the lookout program was never intended to cover every train and that there are no current plans to expand it.
On average, about 13% of Metrolink trains this year have had a second crew member riding with the engineer, records show. The monthly average has varied from about 5% of trains to nearly 20% since last September's crash.
"This is not good," Boxer said in an interview. She said she was led to believe after the Chatsworth crash that the agency would be adding crew members to all trains until a high-tech collision avoidance system could be deployed.
"It was implicit in the conversation," she said, recalling a briefing she chaired last year with senators and Metrolink officials. She raised her concerns Friday in a letter to Metrolink Chairman Keith Millhouse.
Metrolink Vice Chairman Richard Katz, responding for the agency, said, "We tried to assess where [extra crew members] would be most efficient and where we would get the biggest safety improvement, and that's where we put them."
He said the figure cited by Boxer is a several-month average for the entire system. On any given day, 30% to 40% of trains may have a second crew member in the cab, he said, while at other, less busy times on the rails only a few trains may have extra engineers.
In an e-mail, Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said crew members have been added to "as many trains as possible using all currently available train crew personnel." He said that would continue until a new video surveillance system focusing on train engineers is operational.
Boxer said she would press for more control cab lookouts until new train control safety systems are in place.
"I'm not happy with this," she said. "I'm going to have to work with them to see what's the problem."
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Without starting another long-winded debate about the pros and cons of having a second person in a locomotive cab or cab car, several observations here are perhaps worth pondering:
[*] Why did it take almost a year for Senator Boxer to discover that Metrolink wasn't employing a second set of eyes and ears on every train?
[*] Why did, as Ms. Boxer asserts, Metrolink mislead her on the staffing of the trains?
[*] Here's a real gem: Metrolink Vice Chairman Richard Katz, responding for the agency, said, "We tried to assess where [extra crew members] would be most efficient and where we would get the biggest safety improvement, and that's where we put them." As if Metrolink would somehow know the locations, dates and times where an engineer might run past a red signal. Riiiight.
[*] Here's another doozey: . . . Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said crew members have been added to "as many trains as possible using all currently available train crew personnel." They've had almost a year to hire an adequate number of people to staff ALL the trains. Why weren't those additional people hired so as not to perpetuate the "smoke and mirrors" game with Senator Boxer?
[*] Why was the FRA so complacent regarding this issue? With which party does the FRA have the cozier relationship -- Metrolink or Senator Boxer?
I tell ya, sitting on the sidelines and watching all this unfold is better entertainment than anything ESPN, X box or The Playboy Channel can muster up! Pull up a chair and grab a bowl of popcorn!
The senator is shocked that 87% of trains still have just one crew member in the cab a year after the Chatsworth crash.
By Rich Connell, Los Angeles Times
September 19, 2009
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer said Friday she was "stunned" that the Metrolink regional rail service still runs 87% of its trains with only a single crew member in the control cab.
The agency had said it would double up on crew members in locomotives as part of a series of safety reforms after the Chatsworth crash a year ago that killed 25 and injured 135. The so-called second-set-of-eyes plan was a hastily implemented reform after investigators found that the Metrolink engineer had been text messaging on a cellphone and apparently ran a red light just before crashing head-on into a freight train.
Agency officials said that the lookout program was never intended to cover every train and that there are no current plans to expand it.
On average, about 13% of Metrolink trains this year have had a second crew member riding with the engineer, records show. The monthly average has varied from about 5% of trains to nearly 20% since last September's crash.
"This is not good," Boxer said in an interview. She said she was led to believe after the Chatsworth crash that the agency would be adding crew members to all trains until a high-tech collision avoidance system could be deployed.
"It was implicit in the conversation," she said, recalling a briefing she chaired last year with senators and Metrolink officials. She raised her concerns Friday in a letter to Metrolink Chairman Keith Millhouse.
Metrolink Vice Chairman Richard Katz, responding for the agency, said, "We tried to assess where [extra crew members] would be most efficient and where we would get the biggest safety improvement, and that's where we put them."
He said the figure cited by Boxer is a several-month average for the entire system. On any given day, 30% to 40% of trains may have a second crew member in the cab, he said, while at other, less busy times on the rails only a few trains may have extra engineers.
In an e-mail, Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said crew members have been added to "as many trains as possible using all currently available train crew personnel." He said that would continue until a new video surveillance system focusing on train engineers is operational.
Boxer said she would press for more control cab lookouts until new train control safety systems are in place.
"I'm not happy with this," she said. "I'm going to have to work with them to see what's the problem."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Without starting another long-winded debate about the pros and cons of having a second person in a locomotive cab or cab car, several observations here are perhaps worth pondering:
[*] Why did it take almost a year for Senator Boxer to discover that Metrolink wasn't employing a second set of eyes and ears on every train?
[*] Why did, as Ms. Boxer asserts, Metrolink mislead her on the staffing of the trains?
[*] Here's a real gem: Metrolink Vice Chairman Richard Katz, responding for the agency, said, "We tried to assess where [extra crew members] would be most efficient and where we would get the biggest safety improvement, and that's where we put them." As if Metrolink would somehow know the locations, dates and times where an engineer might run past a red signal. Riiiight.
[*] Here's another doozey: . . . Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said crew members have been added to "as many trains as possible using all currently available train crew personnel." They've had almost a year to hire an adequate number of people to staff ALL the trains. Why weren't those additional people hired so as not to perpetuate the "smoke and mirrors" game with Senator Boxer?
[*] Why was the FRA so complacent regarding this issue? With which party does the FRA have the cozier relationship -- Metrolink or Senator Boxer?
I tell ya, sitting on the sidelines and watching all this unfold is better entertainment than anything ESPN, X box or The Playboy Channel can muster up! Pull up a chair and grab a bowl of popcorn!
Barbara Boxer P.O.'ed At Metrolink