"This latest accident has raised the question: 'Is what we are doing adequate,' " said Alan Bing, a safety expert at ICF, a national transportation consulting firm. "It is generally regarded as safe, but accidents like this one do raise a concern."
Even before the Glendale wreck, Metrolink had the third-highest death rate per passenger mile traveled, according to Federal Railroad Administration figures.
The death rates, which cover the period from 1995 to 2004, place Metrolink only slightly better than commuter lines in Maryland and northern Indiana, which ranked worst in the nation. When the Glendale accident is factored in, Metrolink will almost certainly have the highest death rate.
Metrolink officials say the federal statistics distort their record, adding that they must contend with many more freight trains and road crossings than other systems. They say the system's three fatal accidents were each caused by others violating the law or federal regulations.
In addition, Metrolink officials say the Federal Railroad Administration figures are not appropriate indicators of safety because the data are not statistically meaningful.
But 16 of the nation's commuter rail lines have not had a single passenger fatality. Passenger railroads on average are almost as safe as airlines and 20 times safer than automobiles, according to the National Safety Council.
Few rail safety experts deny that trains pulled by heavy locomotives are less likely to derail in head-on collisions and jackknife as occurred in the Glendale accident.
In Glendale, "the chances would have been much better with an engine," said Tom Rubin, a transportation consultant and former risk manager for the Southern California Rapid Transit District. "We need to know more. But all things being equal, I would like a big, heavy locomotive up front."
Commuter rail officials from across the country defend their use of cab cars, which have provided hundreds of millions of miles of accident-free travel since the late 1950s. Today, about 20 commuter rail systems rely on push operations to operate economically.
"It is a safe practice," said Robert Mowry, general manager of the Maryland Transit Administration, which experienced a wreck involving a cab car that killed 11 in 1996. "Every single commuter rail line in the U.S. and Canada uses push-pull operations. If they are all doing it, it must be safe."
