Three signals that should have warned a Metrolink engineer to stop before hitting a freight train appear to have been working and visible prior to last week's catastrophic collision, federal safety investigators said Monday, hours after some anxious commuters returned to their usual trains.
"There were no obstructions to viewing any of the signals," National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins told reporters as she summed up the early stages of what promises to be a lengthy investigation into the crash that killed 25 people in Chatsworth on Friday.
Higgins said the Metrolink train ran through a red signal instead of stopping to allow the southbound Union Pacific freight train to pull onto a siding to allow the commuter train to pass. It then crossed a switching mechanism on the main track at 42 mph, so fast that it bent a switch, which had been closed to guide the freight train onto the siding.
Higgins said the safety board had subpoenaed cellphone records from Verizon Wireless to determine whether the engineer of the commuter train had been text messaging in the moments leading up to the head-on collision.
Metrolink's chief spokeswoman, Denise Tyrrell, resigned Monday after she was intensely criticized by superiors who said she had spoken prematurely in saying the crash was caused by the Metrolink engineer's mistake.
The coroner's office identified the engineer as Robert Martin Sanchez, 46, of La Crescenta, who was described by neighbors as a man who cherished his privacy but spoke lovingly about trains.
A man at Sanchez's home declined to give his name but said he was the engineer's older brother.
"My brother loved trains all his life," he said. "He died doing what he loved. You don't have any idea what we're feeling right now. We feel awful for the victims. I'm thinking about my little brother."
In addition to the 25 dead, 135 passengers were injured in the crash. Twenty-four remained hospitalized Monday, including four in critical condition.
Metrolink trains resumed service between Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and the Chatsworth station, just south of the crash site. Beyond that, Metrolink operated bus service to and from the Moorpark and Simi Valley stations. Higgins said it was her understanding that rail service over the crash site would resume this afternoon.
