Take a look also at the catastrophic structural failure of the first car in the Chatsworth accident. The locomotive took most of the impact and still it totally failed.

Just imagine that big heavy UP freight hitting a MetroLink cab car first! The UP locos would definitely have gone through the entire cab car and into the next. That very likely scenario would easily have killed 100 to 150 people! Push-Pull with grade crossings and weak cars is PATENTLY UNSAFE!

The BLE and the UTU said from day one that the concept of push-pull trains was/is unsafe but everyone ignored them, INCLUDING THE FRA, the agency that gave the final go-ahead and approved push-pull operations. To this day, the FRA still desires to side with the industry IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE POLICING, and the various transit agencies who have a strong desire to operate push-pull trains because IT SAVES MONEY and, in their mind, is more operationally efficient, allowing better equipment utilization. It's all about saving money. When is that ever NOT the case? Suggested viewing: Michael Moore's latest movie, "CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY". Observe closely his piece on how pilots of commuter airplanes are so poorly paid. You get what you pay for in this world, but no one ever seems to grasp that concept in this society. Instead, they place people like Sam Walton on a pedestal.

I certainly do hope the NTSB is looking at the very real likelihood that these cars do not meet FRA crash standards, as their builders claimed. There is also no excuse whatever - for these cars to have broken open and failed so completely.

The NTSB is not a regulatory agency. It merely investigates accidents and makes recommendations. Recommendations that, I might add, are largely ignored by the FRA and the Industry. Especially when dollar expenditures are part of the equation.

It wouldn't be the first time a certain French-Canadian car builder tried to compromise crash worthiness standards. They tried to pull this exact same stunt on Amtrak with the Acela trains, but Amtrak caught 'em at it - caused massive delays launching the Acela service. As incompetent as MetroLink obviously is, it is unlikely that they would have caught a similar attempt by the very same company that built MetroLink's cars.

Your wrath should be directed at the FRA instead of Metrolink. The FRA approved those types of cars when Metrolink was still in the planning stages. Metrolink bought a car design that had been running as early as 1987 by Tri Rail in southern Florida. See:

[en.wikipedia.org]

The FRA feels that the UTDC / Bombardier cars are safe. Just like they feel that push-pull operations are safe. Gee, I wonder if lobbying efforts might have played a role in their decision making process? Ya think?