Metrolink Conductor Says Last Signal Was Green

This could certainly help explain how the terrible Metrolink/BNSF freight train collision in September occurred:

The only surviving crewman aboard a Metrolink train that slammed into a freight train in Chatsworth in September has told investigators that a track-side warning light just south of the crash site was green, his attorneys said today.

Conductor Robert Heldenbrand told investigators that he saw the green signal from the depot just before the train pulled out of the station, said San Dimas attorney John Gilbert.

"He checked the platform prior to the [train] doors closing to make sure there were no more passengers. That's when he observed the green light," said Gilbert, who was with Heldenbrand when he was interviewed by investigators.

Heldenbrand's account matches statements from three observers who say they saw that the light was green as the train left the Chatsworth station. After their comments appeared in The Times, the witnesses were interviewed by federal investigators.

But the conductor and the others contradict statements from Metrolink and the preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board, which has said the commuter train ran a red light just before colliding with the Union Pacific train.


Twenty-five people died and 135 were injured in the crash.

Investigators said engineer Robert M. Sanchez, who was killed in the collision, was supposed to stop Metrolink 111 at the red signal just before a switch mechanism intended to guide the freight train onto a side rail.

Instead, Sanchez barreled over the switch at 42 mph, bending it badly, before slamming into the southbound freight carrier on a sharp curve about a quarter-mile farther, according to federal investigators. Investigators have found that the red light was not as bright as the yellow and green lights displayed by the track-warning signal. The reasons for the visibility difference -- and what, if any, role it played in the crash -- are part of the ongoing investigation, which will take months to complete.

The NTSB, which is leading the probe, has said that three separate tests have confirmed that the signal system was working properly and that Sanchez failed to heed two warning lights. The first one, just before the Metrolink station, was yellow. It should have warned Sanchez to stop at the red light about a mile past the depot, according to investigators.

There was an immediate attempt to blame this accident on the engineer, and given the information about his texting while engineering, it certainly looked like he might have blown it.

However, if there was a signal malfunction as suggested by the conductor, that really changes things. The fault could shift away from the company that provided the Metrolink engineers and fall entirely on Metrolink.