Wayne

An update on the Los Angeles incident, involving the Connex train collision, where 25 lives were lost.

Congress has put in place Laws, that all train lines and trains have to have TWAS? fitted, this will stop a train passing through Signal at Red. This problem was recently highlighted for Melbournes trains in The Age Newspaper, with reported near misses at 2 stations.

All trains in the USA, have to also have a CCTV camera\’s fitted into the train cab, one to video the train driver, to ensure they are compliant, with the rule regarding mobile phone use and a camera facing outward to record the trains journey.Compliance by 2015.

The investigation into this incident is extremley in depth, with all documents and video recording of all witness statements can be viewed online.National Transport Safety Bureau.

The rail system here in Victoria I believe has not got a system to enable communication from the Signal Controller to train driver\’s in many area\’s, as it is out of date and the DOT, canncelled a contract to upgrade in 2001, so accordingly this project is not \’running\’ late.

I also belive that a young girl lost her life, as contact could not be made with the train driver, to warn him of the problem he was approaching.

Please contact me if you require info on level crossings, I have found many facts and documents,regarding major safety issues.

Gwen

Thanks for reading the blog. I am working on a longer article concerning level crossings safety and design and will contact you for input.
Please feel free to comment on any of the matters raised in the blog.

Kevin

I regularly read your site and have found valuable information.

I was very surprised to arrive at your blog via the UK site Hazzard, which I found via a website by Laurie Holden cse news.

Mr Holden was a train driver for Connex in the UK, he also held the position of Health & Safety Officer.

Mr Holden was constructively dismissed for raising concerns regarding Connex lack of attention to working Safety Regulations, particularly regarding the hours train drivers were rosted to work and Connex refusal to supply him with data for SPAD, this is where train do not stop at a red warning signal.

These long hours appear to be a Connex worldwide problem.

The Connex train driver, in the Los Angeles head on collision September 2008, causing the death of 25 and 100\’s of injuries, had worked 47.5 hours and would have still had a day and a half to work when the incident occured,an approximate 60 hour actual working time, driving the train.

I appreciate he was texting on a mobile at the time of this incident, which was against Connex Policy, and he had recieved a verbal warning, but from reading the USA Inquiry into this incident, the rail track had not been upgraded with the safety signalling, that would have automaticaly stopped the train going through a red signal, this is a Signal Passed At Danger. SPAD.

If you look at the Public Safety Transport Victoria, I think you find that the number of SPAD\’s in Victoria quite chilling over the past few years. Compare them to reported near misses at level crossings.

The Statistics say it all