The intense focus on safety comes amid increased concern that Metrolink presents a danger to passengers as the number of train accidents around Southern California has soared this year. Twenty-five people died Sept. 12 after Metrolink train No. 111 collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, surpassing the 2005 Metrolink disaster in Glendale as the deadliest crash in the rail company’s history.
The panel — led by Linda Bohlinger, vice president for consulting firm HNTB Corp. — told the board that Metrolink needs to “develop a stronger, unified safety culture” and “immediately form a strategic safety leadership team” that would include representatives from across the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which includes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Bohlinger also recommended that the board increase its oversight of Metrolink contractors, its volume of train operations, and that officials should “perform a detailed organizational analysis, assessment and restructuring.”
Other recommendations include:
Fostering better interdepartmental communication throughout Metrolink and its contractors;
Filling needed employment vacancies in the rail authority, such as an operations and managers director, that could better facilitate needed changes;
Increasing Metrolink’s technological functions to better analyze and keep track of safety violations and potential hazards.
The panel also called on the board to increase the scope of grade-crossing enforcement measures and reevaluate Metrolink’s current grade separations.
