Metrolink's Saddest Day

I have had a couple of days to think about the horrific Metrolink accident that occurred in Chatsworth, CA. I have had the pleasure of riding on the Metrolink trains and find that the service is always up to the standard that I have expected. Yes I have had the delays that sometimes occur and I have seen what rain and snow can cause. Yes some of the areas that the line serves does get snow. Even extreme heat will cause the trains to run slower because of a danger of track expansion.

Since everyone has an explanation of what caused the action I think that I should add mine. Complacency is the cause of this accident.

1. The engineer may have done the same thing so many times that he was running on what he thought should occur and not on what was actually occurring. Others working that day could have been doing other work that caused them to expect someone else to do the job.

2. The system has not had an accident that was caused by the two trains on the same track at the same time and so thought that the present system would always work. Yes it did have a serious accident involving multiple trains but that was ruled a murder by the courts and all of the train equipment was on separate tracks.

3. Those in charge of the system are purchasing some additional cars that have crumple zones at the end of the car but that would not have stopped a locomotive from doing severe damage to a car when it is pushed by two larger locomotives.

4. Politicians do not want to spend money on ways to provide safer commuter service. They decry the cost of fuel and the amount of traffic on the highways but do little to get better systems in place.


All of these things are part of the problem and I do not mean to downplay the loss of life that occurred but they were not caused by the action or lack of action of one man. They were caused by the lack of action by a lot of people who are very good people but have not work creatively to find a cure to a problem that will not go away. We do need a better way for people to get around town. We need a way to save lives on the highway by making traffic safer and can eliminate air pollution by helping the traffic move smoother.
L A needs a better way to get to the airport without using freeways and it is taking forever to accomplish that goal. LAX is overcrowded and could use a better way to travel around the airport. Think of the better airports now and JFK and Newark (Yes I am praising a place in New Jersey) have far superior systems in place. San Francisco is connected to Bart. Chicago is connected to the subway. The list of cities that have found a better way goes on.