Boy do the people who read newspaper accounts of this event have strong opinions, just not many facts? The main problem that Davidd's had is an inability to deal with the poliitical issues and personalities. He's a pretty good engineering officer and has managed the system under the direction of the Board reasonably, well. Chatwsorth was as much a policy disaster, by the choices the Board made, as an operating failure.

Veolia was a decision by the Metrolink Board to "privatize" operations away from Amtrak by going with the "lowest" supposedly "qualified" bidder. This was a questionable decision, without adequate thought as to the risks or benefits. This was partly because of Veolia's lack of any significant track record with rail management experience. Veolia also offered Metrolink "deep pockets" by accepting more liability than Amtrak was willing to. It now appears that this combination of Veolia's lack of proper operational oversight or proper management, combined with Metrolink's lack of oversight of Veolia's contract compliance may have been significant factors in the Chatsworth tragedy. But, "privatization" was the political "flavor of the week" and the Board made that policy decision.

Veolia has now "quit" the Metrolink contract and is facing hundreds of millions in lawsuits, after its purported failures in management and safety oversight, with multiple reported incidents with Sanchez going undisciplined. This issue lack of quality control appears to be impacting some agency business decisions regarding some of its other operations, as well.

Solow, to his credit, is hiring "in-house" operating officers and has instituted an aggressive testing program. This has resulted in a few people failing tests, but with lessons learned and no tragic consequences. This was exactly the right thing to do. He has also committed and put together a PTC program that will make operations muck safer permanently. David is a good railroader, but not always the best politician, and some of the current issues are about the politics and legal issues of the Chatsworth tragedy, and the resultant press and public perceptions, not railroading competence.

I don't see a single Metrolink Board Member who supported privatizing with Veolia feeling the public pressure or sense of disgrace to resign for their lack of due diligence?

So now we see Solow used by some on the Board as a scapegoat, while still having the confidence of the Board on the capital program, including his strong advocacy of accelerated deployment of PTC, so he has gone back to his original "number 2" position. The Board needs a new CEO, one who is able to better explain, discipline, and better manage the policy expectations of the Board, not the technical. Eric Haley will do this very well in the short term and represents a good choice.