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I saw this over on another website, and I'm posting it here. Absolutely incredible. __________ National Transportation Safety Board Washington, DC 20594 October 1, 2008
The following is an update of the NTSB's investigation of the September 12, 2008 accident in Chatsworth, California involving a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train. As a result of the head-on collision, there were 25 fatalities and numerous injuries.
Information regarding the Metrolink engineer's cell phone activity on the day of the accident was obtained from his service provider under subpoena from the NTSB. As part of the ongoing investigation, this information is being used to determine the timing of cell phone activity, which includes text messaging to and from the engineer's cell number, in relation to the engineer's duty hours and train operations.
Although the precise timing and correlation of these events is still underway at the Safety Board's Recorder Laboratory, preliminary information is being released regarding the approximate cell phone activity during the engineer's duty hours on the day of the accident.
On the day of the accident, the Metrolink engineer was on duty for two periods of time. The engineer was responsible for the operation of a train from 6:44 am until 8:53 am. During this period of time, the engineer's cell phone received 21 text messages and sent 24 text messages.
He was then off duty until 2:00 pm. The engineer was responsible for the operation of Metrolink train 111 from 3:03 pm until the time of the accident. During this time period, the engineer's cell phone received 7 text messages and sent 5 text messages. According to the time on the cell phone provider's records, the last text message received by the engineer's phone before the accident was at 4:21:03 pm, and the last text message sent from the engineer's cell phone was 4:22:01 pm.
A preliminary estimate for the time of the accident, according to the Union Pacific train's onboard recorders, is 4:22:23 pm. The Safety Board's Recorder Laboratory is continuing to correlate times recorded for use of the Metrolink engineer's cell phone, train recorder data, and signal system data to a common time base.
"I am pleased with the progress of this major investigation to date," Acting NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said today. "We are continuing to pursue many avenues of inquiry to find what caused this accident and what can be done to prevent such a tragedy in the future."
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NTSB Media Contact:
Terry N. Williams (202) 314-6100 williat@ntsb.gov
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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However, "it's all over the media"; I just heard MSNBC's "bottom of the hour news summary" during Chris Matthews's show and the story was mentioned, although hardly in the detail that Mr. Smith's material provides.
But quite simply, I remain at a loss to understand why even the NTSB insists on "feeding the media" with piecemeal facts regarding the incident. It's just not the way the Board has worked in the past. No wonder young people like JONATHON persist with discussion of the matter (oh and JONATHON; if I'm not sticking up for you, at least I empathize with your recent posting I admittedly criticized).
Finally, in the interest of continuity, could we continue our discussion of this incident over at the original topic thread?
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: Finally, in the interest of continuity, could we continue our discussion of this incident over at the original topic thread?
I would agree with you, but the other thread has gone so far off-topic that it's a 51:49 choice for me whether to continue here or there.
Presumably since this came from the NTSB we can now regard it as fact that the engineer was indeed texting within minutes of the accident. His earlier trip appeared to have consisted of receiving or sending a text message every 3 minutes.
Regarding the NTSB releasing this, it's not unusual for investigatory bodies releasing interim reports. The more severe the accident, the more interim reports appear. Indeed, the NTSB have themselves released 11 interim (update) reports on various transport incidents this calendar year.
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Smitty, this is why we have this news item: Federal railroad regulators have issued an emergency order prohibiting the use of personal electronic devices by rail workers operating trains and performing other key jobs.
The Federal Railroad Administration issued the order Thursday. It says violators will be subject to civil penalties and removed from "safety-sensitive" jobs. Link to story
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