There was no way I could even write about this on Friday night. I was so upset to hear about it. I couldn't even face checking my email til Saturday morning. So I spent the better part of Saturday, reassuring people that know me, that I was OK. I was not on the train that was in THIS accident. I have mentioned before that I have been in several Metrolink trains that hit something, but 99.999 percent of the time, we are just fine. This one, things were not fine. Over 18 dead, more then that, injured. The engine literally forced itself into the car that followed it. Actually, if you think Sir Isaac Newton stuff, when the engine hit the other engine and stopped moving, the car directly behind it, literally engulfed the engine, sort of like a banana inside a peel. Very scary.
This accident really hit home for me. I ride in the front car, that is directly behind the engine. I started doing this, because of the problems we have with the cab car in accidents. Even though it takes longer to leave the train station at night, because I am all the way forward and the stairs are down at the other end, but I figured safety first. I even stopped sitting in the lower level, by the door to the next car, or engine, for the same reason. It's not my favorite place to be, but I figured I had a better chance in a crash.
I am not riding the rails on Monday or Tuesday for that matter, due to a some morning appointments. Wednesday, I will have to decide, where to sit, moving forward.
Not my favorite subject, right now...but by Wednesday, I am sure something will come to me and I will move on.
My thoughts and prayers to my fellow commuters and the engineer.
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Photo Credit:
The Los Angeles
Times
Edited to add: After I went to bed Saturday night, my brain kicks in and says that many things are just not adding up, in regard to fault. Metrolink says that their Engineer is at fault, he was where he was not supposed to be. A couple of things bother this daily commuter, who knows procedures.
1. You get a yellow signal, before you reach the red. The engineer would have had to miss 2 signals...not likely.
2.They say he sent a text message one minute before the crash. Probably when he was sitting at Chatsworth Station waiting for the passengers to get onto the train, is my thought. Passing the red signal happened less then a mile, further down the track, the crash, less then half a mile later.
3. They have been calling the signals in on the radio for years now. It's an extra layer of double check. Did he do that? Did dispatch notice?
4. The engineer is "dead", the minute he crosses the red. I have seen that procedure happen. Why didn't dispatch stop him and tell him that he could no longer drive a train?
5. The final thing to me, the most important thing and the reason I feel something else is in play here. The track would have been aligned for THE OTHER TRAIN! That means the Metrolink would have derailed, the minute he went through that red and crossed that section where the two tracks come together. Think of your toy trains under the Christmas tree. Track is not aligned right, the train tips over.
Lot's of questions and no answers for this commuter.
Very glad you are OK.
ReplyDeleteI too just want to reiterate here how glad I am that you were NOT involved in this horrible accident.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on dealing with the natural anxiety for a while on future rides. I still say there are pros/cons no matter where you sit depending on the precise circumstances of anything that may happen. You take your chances no matter what and you have to just hope for the best. You can play the statistical odds, but in the end it's out of your hands.
Thursday night I went to a Phillies game. When I got to Route 295 (which I would have taken were I going by myself and not heading to Rutgers-Camden to pick up a friend) there were traffic alert signs stating that 295 South was shutdown due to an accident. Turned out a tractor trailer somehow crossed the median and three people in oncoming vehicles were killed. (The truck driver was treated and released, I think, and I never heard any cause given.)
I couldn't help thinking about how those people were driving along normal as could be one minute and then confronting a tractor trailer which would instantly snuff out their lives the next. You just truly never know. And there are all sorts of mundane moments everyday where, if you stop to think about it, one momentary wrong move or mechanical failure at the wrong time or in the wrong direction and "Wham!" that's it. Could be as simple as climbing a ladder, going down a flight of stairs, or getting out of the tub.
And yet, somehow we almost always manage.
Or then there's a year or two ago after one of my local roads was repaved and there was a significant dropoff from pavement to dirt shoulder (until they eventually took care of it)... I was in the habit then of doing a nightly bike ride around the 2.75 mile block. Well, one night I got too close to the edge and fell... partially into the road. There was a car coming that was not pulling over to give as much room as they could. But luckily they were still far enough away that I was able to quickly pick myself up out of the road. Of course, they didn't even stop to see if I was OK (like I might have done), but that's neither here nor there. The point is that had the timing been slightly different I might not be here to type this longwinded comment.
See what I mean about trying not to think about it... Yeeesh! Do as I say, not as I do.
Oh, I totally hear you, Dim Skip. When I drive in the car, it's a totally different set of worries. But as you say, if I think too long about it all, I would indeed never get in a car again. So we compartmentalize it all and we move on. I am positive I will do so...again.
ReplyDelete==
D: Yeah, me too. :-)
I'll take my chances on a train any day. At least if there is a crash it doesn't fall 15,000 ft. out of the sky before it hits the ground. This cannot be blamed only on the engineer. The two trains obviously should have never been lined up on the same track. That would indicate a dispatching problem, turnouts being incorrectly
ReplyDeletealigned. Could have also been a computer problem. We have become too dependant on electronics to keep our machines and systems running smoothly. When they work it's great but when things go south on us, nobody has the hands on experience to deal with the problem.
I heard tonight on the ABC World News that there are rumors (they may have used the word "reports," but I think it was "rumors") the Metrolink engineer was texting on his phone minutes, if not moments, before the crash and that the train may have proceeded past a red signal. I don't know how they would know that. Would someone have seen him? Would the person being texted come forward? Who knows...
ReplyDeleteI stress that those rumors or reports remain unconfirmed at this point to the best of my knowledge. But if there's anything to them can you imagine the lawsuits involved? I'm not one to cry "Sue!" at the drop of a hat, but if those rumors turn out to be true all lawsuits/settlements/awards would be 100% justified imo and yet still not enough, but then there can never be any reasonable compensation for such an extreme circumstance. Hopefully if any major contributing factors can be identified, they will also find ways of trying to avoid repeat such incidents.
The reporter also mentioned that the official NTSB investigation could take up to a year before a final finding is made.
Angel, when I first heard the news, I burst into tears and started clicking through channels to find the location of the crash. When I couldn't find any info on the TV, I resorted to google. Even after I discovered the crash was way West of where you SHOULD be, I couldn't settle down until I called you. Then I couldn't settle down until I called you again. Then I couldn't settle down until you called back. THANK YOU!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow do we ever know what's safe? Not riding the train at all and driving? What about car crashes? Not driving and staying home? What about meteorites?
We can't know.
God will send an Angel when it's your time. This I know.
I remember one trip from LA to AZ with my nine year old cousin in the car with me. I was afraid to drive in the LA traffic, so we left around 4:00 am. I was driving in a fog, carefully, nervously as traffic blew past me on both sides. All of a sudden, I just got overwhelmed with a feeling to slam on the brakes (from 60 to 0 in five seconds or less). I screeched to a halt a few inches from the undercarriage of a semi-tractor trailer that had jack-knifed and overturned. My car stalled. I restarted it and limped to the shoulder in a panic, holding my breath and shaking as I watched other cars slam in to the truck I'd just missed.
God wasn't ready for me yet. Or maybe he just wasn't ready for Allyson yet. Either way, we lived and others did not that day. How can we know about all the near misses we avoid every minute of every day?
Please, Angel, get on the train and sit where you're comfortable. And know that when He's ready, he'll send an Angel for you.
Don't be afraid.
I love you!