Train Accidents Help
September 19, 2008Calif. railroad board bans cell phones for train workers
The regulatory board in charge of California’s railroads has issued a temporary ban on the use of cell phones by anyone who is operating a moving train. The ban came in response to last week’s Chatsworth train crash, which investigators suspect happened just minutes after the engineer controlling the train was sending text messages from its cabin.Last week, a Metrolink commuter train collided head-on near Chatsworth, California, with a freight train that was traveling on the same rail. At least 25 deaths and 135 injuries have been reported among the passengers and crew on the two trains, including the engineer on the Metrolink train.
In a unanimous vote, the five-member California Public Utilities Commission agreed to put the temporary ban on cell phone use into effects. The panel said that it would consider making the order permanent, noting the lack of federal regulation on cell phone use by on-duty train workers.
Within days of the Chatsworth train wreck, a local TV station reported that the engineer controlling the Metrolink train had sent a text message to a young train enthusiast just one minute before the train accident took place. A preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has confirmed that the engineer had sent and received text messages while on duty, but was still working to determine the exact time they were sent.