Calif. bans engineer cell use

Operator texted before collision

Laura Gerritsen, an LA police officer (left), and others grieved at the casket of fellow Officer Spree Desha, who died in the wreck. (DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES)

LOS ANGELES - California regulators reacting to the deadly wreck of a commuter train last week issued an emergency order yesterday banning train operators from using cellphones on duty.

The Public Utilities Commission's unanimous decision to pass the temporary order came a day after investigators confirmed that the engineer of the Metrolink commuter train was text-messaging while on duty on the day the train ran a red light and collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train. Last Friday's wreck in Los Angeles killed 25 people, including the engineer, and injured more than 130.

Some railroads - including Metrolink - prohibit operators from using cellphones on the job, but the commission's president, Michael R. Peevey, has said the rules are widely ignored. There is no federal regulation of cellphone use by railroad workers and until yesterday there had been no statewide rules in California.

Under the new order, the violators could be fined up to $20,000 per violation or have their operations shut down.

"Today's action will protect the public," Peevey said. "What we're doing today is just a modest first step in a much larger effort to improve railroad safety."

The National Transportation Safety Board requested the cellphone records of engineer Robert Sanchez after two teenage train buffs said they exchanged text messages with him shortly before the crash in the San Fernando Valley community of Chatsworth.

An NTSB statement issued Wednesday night did not say how many messages were found in the records or if any texting occurred shortly before the crash.

Sanchez's cellphone was not found in the severely crushed and burned wreckage, but the teens told KCBS-TV last week that they received a text message from the engineer at 4:22 p.m. - a minute before the collision.

The crash occurred at a curve in the track just short of where a 500-foot-long tunnel separates Chatsworth from Simi Valley and Moorpark in Ventura County.

Less than an hour before the wreck, Sanchez had called in an order for a roast beef sandwich that he was to pick up after making the train's final scheduled stop in Moorpark, the owner of the sandwich shop said yesterday.

"He said he was at Union Station (downtown) and that he wanted to call ahead to place his order," said Randy Richardson, owner of The Hub sandwich shop. "He wanted to make sure we were going to be open when he got to Moorpark, and said he would pick it up during his layover."

Richardson said Sanchez regularly stopped by his shop in the last two years.

"He was a super nice guy, we talked about sports, the weather, politics, what's going on in the news. Just a regular Joe," Richardson said.

The NTSB has determined Sanchez did not apply the brakes before the collision and ran a red light that could have prevented it. The agency said the tracks and signals were working properly and that human error was to blame.

Investigators are looking into Sanchez's work schedule. He was working an 11 1/2-hour split shift at the time of the crash. He began his shift at 6 a.m., took a nap during a 3 1/2-hour break, and resumed duty at 2 p.m., about 2 1/2 hours before the crash, the NTSB said.

Memorial services were held yesterday for some of the crash victims. In 2003, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Railroad Administration regulate the use of cellphones after finding that an engineer's phone use contributed to a fatal May 2002 accident in Texas.