theconductor Wrote:

What's ridiculous is that the ntsb has to perform an investigation because someone is texting instead of watching signals. If metrolink employees could follow rules, then there would be a lot less taxpayer money spent on investigations. (Yes, I know these are two different incidents.)

Here's a few other things that are ridiculous:

(1.) An industry that has been dragging its feet for decades in getting some form of Positive Train Control installed on some of the most heavily trafficked lines. The only reason there's a big push for it now is because of the Chatsworth wreck.

(2.) A federal "watch dog agency" (i.e., the FRA) that has been in bed (literally?) with the industry it's supposed to be policing for several decades. Google "Betty Monro" and "Mary E. McAuliffe" for a hint of the shenanigans and improprieties that went largely unpunished.

(3.) That same agency burying its head in the sand over the issue of crew fatigue for several decades, plus following the Industry's footsteps in thinking that one-man operations with belt packs is a safe pathway to increased productivity. The next-of-kin of a dead CSX conductor who worked at a yard in upstate New York probably hold a different opinion.