Train engineer sent text 22 seconds before California crash
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 1:49 PM ET
CBC News
Related
An engineer had been sending text messages seconds before his commuter train failed to stop at a red light and collided head on with a freight train in a Los Angeles suburb last year, federal investigators said Tuesday.
Investigator Wayne Workman also told the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday that Robert Sanchez, the engineer of the Metrolink train, was going to allow a railroad fan to operate the train that evening.
The investigation revealed that Sanchez had sent and received 57 text messages while on duty.
One message was sent 22 seconds before the train slammed into the Union Pacific freight train near Chatsworth, Calif., killing 25 people and injuring 135 others.
Workman said all evidence about the crash was consistent with the engineer failing to stop at a red signal.
On the day of the crash, Sanchez was going to allow a person, considered a railroad fan, into the cab to run the train in the evening between four stations, according to the texts.
"I'm gonna do all the radio talkin'…ur gonna run the locomotive & I'm gonna tell u how to do it," Sanchez wrote in one text.
The texts revealed that Sanchez, contrary to company policy, had allowed unauthorized individuals into the locomotive cab three days before the accident, including one who was allowed to sit at the controls while the train was operating.
Following the crash two teenage train buffs told KCBS-TV that they received a text message from Sanchez minutes before the crash.
Investigators also found that the conductor of the Union Pacific train also received and sent numerous text messages while on duty.
The conductor also tested positive for marijuana, but he was not driving the train at the time of the crash.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
Top News Headlines
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges

- The estranged partner of a young mother who was stabbed to death along with her parents at their home in Aylmer, Que., has been charged with first-degree murder Friday. more »
- Wildfires, high winds put northeastern Ontario on alert
- It's going to be a tense weekend in northeastern Ontario where strong, shifting winds have been fuelling a forest fire that has blanketed the Timmins area with smoke and ash. more »
- Labrador fire out of control
- A forest fire continues to burn out of control in Happy Valley-Goose Bay today, according to provincial firefighting officials. more »
- The risks and responsibilities of taking on Mt. Everest

- The deaths of five climbers last weekend on Mt. Everest, with more summits underway this weekend, fuels the debate about the risks and responsibilities of high altitude climbing. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Unloading of docked SpaceX capsule to start Saturday
- The privately bankrolled SpaceX Dragon capsule made a historic arrival at the International Space Station on Friday, and astronauts will begin unloading some of the 544 kilograms of food, water, clothing and other supplies its carrying starting Saturday.
more »
- South Africa, Australia to share world's largest telescope
- South Africa and Australia will jointly host the Square Kilometre Array, which promises to be the world's largest telescope, the international consortium in charge of the project said Friday. more »
- Bonavista, N.L., 'coyote' was really wolf, tests confirm
- Wolves have not been seen in Newfoundland since around 1930 and were believed to have been hunted to extinction on the island, but genetic tests have confirmed that an 82-pound animal shot on the Bonavista Peninsula in March was, in fact, a wolf. more »
- Once-rare argus butterfly thriving thanks to climate change
- Global warming is threatening the existence of many species, such as the giant polar bear, but in the case of Britain's brown argus butterfly, it took a species in trouble and made it thrive. more »
- Yahoo scraps digital magazine designed for iPad
- Yahoo has killed Livestand, a tablet magazine, just six months after its debut on the iPad. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Government to shut down unique fresh water research area May. 25, 2012 12:31 PM The Experimental Lakes Area research facility in Northern Ontario is being closed down after 44 years of providing invaluable data to scientists in Canada and internationally, a decision that has stunned researchers and environmental groups.
Quirks & Quarks
- May 26: Before the Lights Go Out May. 25, 2012 4:15 PM A new book, "Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us", suggests that the unpredictable, unplanned, ad-hoc way our energy use developed in the past will shape our energy future.
Latest Features
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- B.C. premier unhappy with disgraced Mountie's transfer
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- What a Greek euro exit could mean for Canada
- Third B.C. salmon farm quarantined
- RCMP officer charged in fatal crash
- Police probe Halifax homicide after shooting
- Ottawa man in hospital after lightning strike

