Top-to-bottom improvements in the safety culture of the Metrolink rail system are needed to reduce the odds of future accidents like the September disaster in Chatsworth that killed 25 people and injured 135 others, a panel of experts said Friday.
A two-month review of the five-county commuter train operation found that a far greater focus on safety was needed, starting with oversight of the contract employees at the controls of locomotives and extending to involvement of agency board members in ensuring that safety policies are enforced.
Although the report was implicitly a criticism of current management practices, David R. Solow, the agency's executive director, declined to react to the list of recommendations, other than to tell The Times, "That's what I'm going to do."
The critique took aim at all levels of the organization; board member Richard Katz, who pushed for the study, said it offered an opportunity for Metrolink to move ahead in a rail industry often criticized for moving too slowly on passenger safety improvements.
"We want to move from trailing the pack to leading the pack when it comes to safety," Katz said.
The Sept. 12 catastrophe, the worst train accident in modern California history, helped focus national attention on passenger rail safety and prompted landmark changes in federal law. After years of delay, Metrolink and other rail systems have been ordered to install high-tech, automated train control systems that can compensate for the kinds of human error suspected in the Chatsworth collision.
The engineer operating the Metrolink train had been text messaging with a cellphone and ran a red light seconds before slamming head-on into a Union Pacific freight train, according to the preliminary findings of federal safety investigators. Some witnesses say the light did not appear to be red.
The so-called Peer Review Panel report presented to Metrolink board members Friday was the work of industry and private-sector experts, part of an agency campaign to restore confidence in the 16-year-old rail network, which carries about 48,000 passengers each weekday and has had one of the deadliest records in the nation in recent years.
Key among the findings is that Metrolink needs to step up its monitoring of all "safety critical" workers, chiefly engineers and conductors. In addition to more frequent testing and live video monitoring of train crews, the agency needs to overhaul an antiquated record system that prevents it from rapidly identifying problems with workers and equipment in the field.
