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FWIW, I was told the names of the Rialto crew. You know how BS flies on the railroad, could be true, could be false.

Well, what I find interesting involves the Metrolink spokeswoman, Joanna Capelle, who made the comment to the press that there was only one person was in the cab. I’ve never seen a quote from her since. It’s as if she’s dropped off the face of the Earth. Like Denise Tyrrell before her, perhaps Metrolink canned her because she made the mistake of speaking the truth to the press? As Journalist Michael Kinsley once said, "A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth."

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The problem I have with your comment has to do with freight trains that make the same mistakes. Today's freight crews have 2 or 3 people up front and they STILL get past red signals, limits of authority, and other restrictions.

Well, look at it this way: If all those trains just had one person in the locomotive, who’s to say that many more of them would have run past red signals? Mistakes are going to happen. I’m just saying that two sets of eyes and ears take in more information than one set of eyes and ears.

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How can you claim two people are the answer when it's been proven repeatedly that extra eyes don't prevent tragedies?

They probably REDUCE tragedies. If nothing else, a second person in the cab can “babysit” the engineer and make sure he’s not texting.

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I want to offer my own opinion that isn't very popular among Metrolink crews, an "inconvenient truth" if you will. Many Metrolink conductors and engineers are greedy. The only thing they live for is their six-figure salary. They have no life because they've sacrificed everything for their job. I don't know of a more torturous way to earn a living.
Let's examine the work schedule of the crew in the Chatsworth accident. Both lived a very far distance from the Montalvo crew base they worked from, if I'm not mistaken about 75 miles each way. At minimum that's 2 hours of driving on a daily basis. Very similar to most Metrolink jobs, they worked 5:54am-9:26am and again from 2:00pm-9:05pm. Their layover is spent at a sub-par hotel, in a sub-par location. The area completely sucks, even if you're looking for a bite to eat. I consider the midday break part of the workday because the long schedule forces crews to take a nap.

5:54am to 9:05pm equals 15 hours and 11 minutes per day. Add their commute times and you get 17 hours a day minimum! At home, I'd be surprised if they sleep longer than 5 hours a night. The accident report notes that the conductor had been awake since 3:00am that day.

Schedules like these lead me to believe Chatsworth and Rialto occurred for the same reason. Engineers by themselves in the locomotive, cabcar, at the hotel, driving to and from work are alone for a very long time. When they return home at night everybody else is going to sleep. During the midday rest period, they have only their coworkers to socialize with, unless by some strange coincidence their spouses, children, or friends are free during the lunch hour and live near Burbank. What a horrible way to live your life.

I think Metrolink engineers are suffering the psychological effects of solitary confinement. Google that some time, lots of academics have written articles as it pertains to prisoners.

I agree with everything you’ve mentioned here.

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By all evidence the NTSB laid out, Sanchez was desperate to find social interaction even if that meant breaking the rules.

He wasn’t a complete loner. He still had weekends free (short as they were) and he was friends with some old lady. They shared an interest in breeding dogs. What was mind-blowing was that, even with his six-figure income, he was convicted of a shoplifting crime. He was a troubled individual. Intracting with young boys to an extent where it was becoming a concern to the parent(s) was another item to be added to his list of problems.

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I wouldn't be surprised if Rialto happened because the engineers enjoyed the socializing. No different from taking a road trip with other people in the car, you talk about fun things to pass the time.

Remember, I’m still skeptical that a second person was in the cab.

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In my opinion, the one thing Metrolink needs to do is eliminate these long assignments.

I agree. But I don’t think you’ll ever see it because it would mean that more people would have to be hired. You’d need one group of employees to operate the inbound “rush hour” and another group of employees to operate the evening outbound “rush hour.” The bean counters would look at the associated expenses and deep six the idea. Think of the expense of the health care benefits alone for all those additional employees.

Another reform that needs to come down the pike is re-programming the engineers to slow down and make safety the number one priority. Yes, it would mean that the on-time performance stats would take a big hit. So what. On Time Performance isn’t as important as running a train safely. There’s too much emphasis on running the trains with a “balls-to-the-wall” mentality to get it into its endpoint on time. And this operating philosophy isn’t limited to Metrolink.

The illustrate how Metrolink has its priorities twisted and has been placing too much emphasis on On Time Performance at the expense of other issues, the NTSB investigators were incredulous that Connex supervision placed a WRITTEN letter of counseling in Sanchez’ file over an incident where he caused a train delay because a marker light supposedly wasn’t illuminated. On the other hand, he was VERBALLY counseled several times over his unauthorized cell phone use. Delaying a train warranted harsher punishment than using a cell phone on duty.

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Restructure the jobs so crews don't have to work mornings and evenings, even if that means deadheading crews in one direction.

Again, I don’t think you’ll ever see it. It would cost too much money in having to hire more employees. And certainly not as long as Metrolink and other commuter agencies can wring the degree of productivity out of their employees that they’re currently extracting.

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Give these people their lives back and I guarantee you they'll perform better.

I agree. But, like you said, to some extent the engineers and conductors are guilty parties as well. They like those six-figure incomes. The freight boys suffer from this “disease” as well. The earnings one makes under these conditions is known as “blood money.” How do you tell someone that they can no longer be a work-a-holic? Companies LOVE employees who are willing to put in lots of overtime. And its not just limited to railroading. Many city fire departments have many firemen making more money (thanks to overtime) than the Fire Chief.

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Unfortunately, this isn't a priority for the BLET and UTU either. They prefer filling up their bank accounts over maintaining their sanity.

Once again, it’s all about the MONEY isn’t it?

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I think it's really sad.

It’s Capitalism, my friend. Capitalism. Watch Michael Moore’s movie on the subject and see just how ugly and sad it is.