usual, transporting commuters during the busy morning
rush hour. But just after 6 a.m., a tragedy unfolded
that neither Metrolink nor the commuters on board
southbound Ventura County Line Metrolink train 100
could have imagined.
parked on the train tracks near the Chevy Chase
Drive grade crossing in Glendale, causing a major
derailment when Metrolink train 100 struck it, a parked
Union Pacific freight train and oncoming northbound
Metrolink train 901.
vehicle was left unharmed. In 2008, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found the vehicle owner guilty on 11
counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson, sentencing him to life in prison.
improvements on the Metrolink system. In September, the agency met with federal lawmakers in Washington,
D.C., to discuss the importance of making railcars safer and making it more difficult for cars and people to
access Metrolink's rights-of-ways.
cars from Sound Transit and the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission
to ease crowding on certain lines. The agency had already planned to
purchase additional cars to better accommodate growing ridership.
The Glendale collision became the driving factor behind the agency's
initiative to incorporate new Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and
Department of Transportation's John A. Volpe National Transportation
Systems Center research into their procurement process. To create a
safety-enhanced passenger car that would reduce passenger injuries if an
incident were to occur, Metrolink sought the help of the FRA, the Federal
Transit Administration (FTA) and the American Public Transportation
Association (APTA) to develop Crash Energy Management (CEM) feature
specifications based on FRA findings on passenger train crashworthiness.
In May 2005, the FRA, FTA and APTA formed an ad hoc CEM working
group, made up of participants from the railroad industry, including
passenger railroads, suppliers, unions and industry consultants, to develop
specifications that would be used in the production of the new cars.
Association, a member of the ad
hoc CEM working group, stated
that it intended to use Metrolink's
CEM specifications as a starting
point for an industry standard. Also,
the Standing Committee on Rail
Transportation (SCORT) expressed
its interest in adapting Metrolink's
specifications to meet its needs.
The SCORT is an organization
that addresses policy, regulatory,
safety and enforcement issues
impacting states' ability to develop
and maintain their portions of
an efficient national freight and
passenger rail transportation
network.