Congress enacted the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 to ensure commuters greater protection aboard trains. At its core, the law requires Positive Train Control, or PTC technology, to be installed on most railroads across the United States. Initially, the deadline was 2015, but Congress has now extended it to December 2018.
The 2008 Chatsworth Metrolink train crash that killed 25 people and injured 135 spurred lawmakers to modernize railroads. The accident remains the deadliest railway collision in Metrolink’s history and the worst in the United States in the last quarter-century. Patricia Nazario highlights how then U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California led the push for greater safety in the days following the crash.
Eleven days after the Metrolink commuter crashed head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in the San Fernando Valley, U-S Senator Barbara Boxer held a legislative briefing in Washington D-C.
“What are the interim steps?” she asked.
Senator Boxer pushed for new safety measures that could take effect immediately. Among those in the room were National Transportation Safety Board Member and Spokesperson Kitty Higgins, Metrolink Chairman Ron Roberts, a Union Pacific executive, and Senator Dianne Feinstein.
“What are the interim steps?” asked Senator Feinstein. She was trying to get at more people on alert right there, in the front of the train, watching for these signals. “What’s wrong with that?” she asked.
Metrolink Chairman Ron Roberts replied that Metrolink executives started discussing that option in the days following the crash.
“We’ve already thought about that,” Roberts replied, “…putting another engineer in each cab on the lines that are single track and share with freight railways.’
Three days after the crash, Metrolink Board members approved an extra engineer as a second set of eyes in the control cab. Ultimately, Metrolink reached a $200 million dollar settlement with victims’ families.
The Los Angeles Times keeps a list of those killed in the 2008 Metrolink Chatsworth crash on its website.
