Freight Engineer in Crash Ran 2 Lights, Officials Find

A freight engineer who ran past two warning signals most likely caused the head-on crash with a Metrolink commuter train that killed two passengers and injured hundreds of others, according to preliminary findings released Wednesday by federal investigators.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said they are focusing on the freight operator because they have ruled out brake or other mechanical failure, track problems and signal malfunctions.

About two miles from the site of the collision in Placentia, a yellow light on the rail line signaled to the engineer that he should slow to 30 mph. But NTSB investigators said the Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight engineer appeared to ignore or miss the light. The train picked up speed to about 48 mph.

“He did not slow the train at all,” said Marion C. Blakey, the NTSB chairwoman. “He kept going full bore.”

A minute and a half later, the 67-car freight train was signaled by a red rail light to stop, but the train was traveling too fast. The engineer’s efforts to apply the emergency brakes were not enough to prevent the train from slamming into the Metrolink cars, which had already stopped on the track. The freight was going about 20 mph upon impact, throwing passengers and causing two Metrolink coaches to derail.

Seconds later, the freight hit the double-decker passenger cars a second time, carrying it a total of 337 feet.

The freight engineer, Darrell Wells, and the conductor, Dean E. Tacoronte, jumped from the train moments before the crash. Tacoronte’s mother-in-law, Betty Wood, said he remained hospitalized with head injuries.

“[My daughter] told me Dean said he looked up, and he saw the train,” Wood said.

Dozens of Metrolink commuters suffered fractures, lacerations and back injuries. Some pushed out windows to escape the train, while the more seriously injured had to be pulled out by rescuers.

“There is no question that the Burlington Northern train should have stopped,” Blakey said. “The [Metrolink] train had the right of way.”

Officials said they have found no indication of criminal wrongdoing and said their investigation will take months to complete.

Two men--Robert Kube, 59, of Moreno Valley and Lawrence Sorensen, 48, of Riverside--died from blunt-trauma injuries sustained in the crash, and 162 people were treated at hospitals. A few remained hospitalized Wednesday.

Blakey called the Placentia accident a worst-case scenario, adding: “This kind of head-on collision is exactly what the NTSB has been concerned about for years.”

In the wake of the crash, Blakey said, the rail industry must consider installing fully automated braking systems, which are used in the Northeast. There, passenger and freight trains also share common tracks.

The system operates without action by the engineer. It is triggered by warning and stoplights along the rail line, she said.

Blakey issued a strong endorsement for those systems Wednesday during a news conference in Fullerton, saying that if they had been in place in Orange County, the trains would have stopped.

“The human error problem would be eliminated,” she said.

Neither Wells not Tacoronte could be reached for comment Wednesday. Their employer, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, did not return calls seeking comment.

Officials from the union representing freight operators said it’s too early to pass judgment.

History “has taught us that one should wait for all of the facts and any tests that are being run on any signals and equipment to be concluded,” said Frank Wilner, spokesman for the United Transportation Union. “We do not have all the facts.”

Stephen Dawson, safety representative for UTU Local 811 in San Bernardino, said he trained Tacoronte and vouched for the conductor’s skills.

“Dean was knowledgeable,” Dawson said. “He did really well in the exams and physical parts of the training. I was impressed with him.”

Fellow employees described Tacoronte and Wells as reliable and experienced professionals who did their jobs well. They expressed disbelief that Wells missed the signal.

“We’re all talking about it, but there’s only three people who know exactly what happened out there,” said one conductor who asked not to be identified because of the investigation. “Those two guys and the dispatcher they were talking to.”

Several engineers and conductors said Wednesday that fatigue because of long work hours as well as equipment problems can make their working conditions unsafe.

Employees are given as little as seven hours off after working through the night or more than 12 hours in a row, they said.

Fatigue and work schedules are some of the human factors investigators said they will review.

“We want to look particularly at that 72-hour window before the crews came on duty to see what may have factored in in terms of their performance,” Blakey said.

There was no indication that the engineer of the freight train had fallen asleep--he was properly sounding the horn at each crossing--and blood tests were negative for signs of alcohol.

Drug test results will be completed Friday, but officials said there are no indications he was under the influence.

Railroad engineers must meet federal training and certification requirements before they can operate a freight train, said Robert Gould, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, which regulates safety on the nation’s train tracks.

But as long as they adhere to federal guidelines, railroads are responsible for certifying their own employees, Gould said.

Gould said it is “way too soon . . . to be contemplating” whether his agency will take action as a result of Tuesday’s crash. The agency has the power to levy fines and oversee the industry.

The Metrolink train sustained $2.6 million in damage. The heavier, bigger freight train suffered $25,000.

At the crash site, the familiar sights and sounds had returned. Traffic resumed on Orangethorpe Avenue and freight trains were once again blaring their horns and chugging through Placentia.

The Metrolink trains were also back on track shortly after noon.

The only signs of the crash were the two mangled Metrolink trains on the embankment under black tarps. A chain-link fence surrounded the cars and NTSB investigators in white hard hats occasionally boarded them. cars.

The Metrolink crew, Blakey said, “did everything properly.”

The commuter train had been stopped for 10 seconds before the crash occurred and engineer Mike Dudgeon had time to leave the cab, head toward the back and warn passengers.

“Our employees reacted as quickly as possible in a very dangerous situation and did everything they could do to warn passengers to brace for a possible impact,” said Metrolink spokeswoman Sharon Gavin.

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Times staff writers Tom Gorman in Blythe, Calif., Tina Borgatta, Tina Dirmann, Manuel Gamiz Jr., Jessica Garrison, Jeff Gottlieb, Jack Leonard, Scott Martelle, Phil Willon, Janet Wilson, and Daniel Yi contributed to this report.

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