In his most extensive public statement since the deadly Chatsworth train crash, Metrolink Chief Executive David R. Solow said Thursday that his agency would consider immediately installing devices that could halt or slow trains when a collision was imminent.
However, cautioning that there were potential obstacles to adding the equipment, he provided no assurance that the installation would be done. For the first time, he also revealed that Metrolink locomotives already have the ability to read stop signals that could be sent from tracks lined with such an automatic braking system.
Solow's remarks came as political leaders continued to press him and Metrolink's part-time board to swiftly embrace safety reforms and prove they can effectively guide a complex regional rail line that carries 48,000 commuters each weekday.
Speaking before the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority -- Metrolink's largest local backer -- Solow said he wasn't sure the Sept. 12 head-on collision between a Metrolink train and a Union Pacific freight train could have been avoided by the most readily available device, known as automatic train stop.
Twenty-five people died and 135 were injured in the crash, which has brought action by state regulators and helped propel a groundbreaking national rail safety bill pending in the Senate. Federal investigators say they cannot yet explain why the Metrolink engineer failed to stop at a light warning that another train was approaching on the same track.
Solow indicated that the automatic train stop system installed on Metrolink engines -- the agency has 38 locomotives -- has not been used across all 388 miles of track because the equipment that makes it work is in place only along a stretch in south Orange County.
At best, Solow said the equipment, which he said dates to the 1940s, could slow trains or perhaps halt them when engineers do not stop at red signals. "In certain instances, [the train stop devices] would slow down the train, and that's better than not slowing down the train," he said.
In the two weeks since the accident, Solow has said little publicly, instead deferring comments to members of the Metrolink board. Of the five counties that fund Metrolink, the MTA provides the lion's share, and its board is chaired by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
