I r crashin.......

OMG

wtf. lol

The last text message one of the teens got from the engineer was exactly one minute before the crash. The engineer and these two teenager train buffs had been text messaging each other for months.

The woman who was the PR person for Metrolink resigned from her job yesterday. I watched on television as she came out and gave a press conference and admitted the Metrolink engineer was responsible and that he was text messaging and she apologized to everyone on behalf of Metrolink.

I was really surprised to see any company take responsbility for an accident within one day of it happening. Usually a company says nothing until all the investigations are done as no one wants to admit liability. Evidently that's what Metrolink's Board of Directors felt too because they pressured her into quitting her job after she made her statement.

The family of a 19 year old girl who was killed in the accident have already filed a lawsuit. There will be plenty more as there were really bad injuries. They said this was the worst train accident in U.S. history.

Mcsame's fault- for inventing the blackberry.

Someone should arrest those two stupid train buffs.

"Someone should arrest those two stupid train buffs."

Yeah, just like someone should arrest you for being a moron. Tell us, genius, under what charge would that be?

Distracting an engineer in the performance of his duties, and 25 counts of 3rd degree murder.

Ok, Let's sue MetroLink and put the system out of business. Who Cares, I don't use it.

I'm sorry, SHIT HAPPENS.... GREEDY FUCKS.......

A grown man texting young boys???? Sounds like a lib nambla agenda to me.

I am sure the aclu will be invloved.

A grown man texting young boys???? Sounds like a lib nambla agenda to me

Nah, it sounds like Mark Foley the GOP pickle smuggler.

Could be Barney Frankenhider, too, Reinie...

They said this was the worst train accident in U.S. history.

#4 | Posted by califchris at 2008-09-16 06:39 PM

They are wrong.

Great Circus Train Wreck of 1918
at 3:56 a. m. on June 22nd, 1918 near Hammond, Indiana

Within minutes the troop train plowed full steam, some 60 mph into the parked circus train, then tragedy occurred. Of the 300 passengers on board the circus train 86 were killed and some 127 were injured. Many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. A majority of those killed in this disaster are buried at the Showman's Rest in Chicago's Woodlawn Cemetery.

I meant to include the link for my previous post:

Could be Barney Frankenhider, too, Reinie...

#12 | Posted by American1st

Have a link to where Barney Frank has ever had anything to do with young boys?

The kids aren't to blame. The Engineer however, is totally to blame. I don't understand the modern urge to be on the phone 24/7.

I see people driving cars while texting and I would guess there are some tractor trailer drivers doing it too. Cell phones are bad enough it needs to be strictly against the law to text and drive anything.

"I see people driving cars while texting"

Breathtakingly stupid, isn't it?

RoyBatty

Thanks for the correction to the worst train wreck for fatalities in US history. I sort of had a feeling there had to have been other train wrecks that killed more than 25 people. Usually I'm not too lazy to google these facts myself but I've been fighting off a cold the last day or two and didn't feel like it so I just went by what some clown reporter said on my local tv station.

RoyBatty

Here's a link to 61 photos of the train crash.

The kids aren't to blame. The Engineer however, is totally to blame. I don't understand the modern urge to be on the phone 24/7.

#15 | Posted by TFDNihilist at 2008-09-16 10:22

I think the Engineeer was enjoying being idolized by these two teenage train buffs. The Conductor who was riding with him is still alive but too injured to talk now. When he recovers the investigators are going to ask him if there was any sign or warning prior to the crash. Obviously the Engineer didn't have his mind on his job.

Zat

Even stupider: Cal law changed in June, you can not talk on the cell phone while driving except handsfree.

You CAN, however, text while driving.

With texting you have to take your eyes off the road to look at the cell, so surely that should be illegal too?

brb goin 2 crash train lol

This guy deserves a posthumous Darwin Award (is that redundant?), not only for getting himself killed by texting while driving a train but by killing 25 other people and injuring over 100.

What a moron.

"Even stupider: Cal law changed in June, you can not talk on the cell phone while driving except handsfree.

#21 | Posted by TedBaxter"

NJ passed a law like that 3 or 4 years ago. The even stupider part was, the cops couldn't pull you over for doing it - they had to find something else to pull you over for in order to fine you for using the cell without a hands-free headset.

I think it got changed within the last year or two so that you can't talk on the phone at all while driving, but still...

How the fuck did these 14 year old "train enthusiasts" have the engineer's phone number?

"When he recovers the investigators are going to ask him if there was any sign or warning prior to the crash."

The engineer failed to stop at a red signal. Can't get much more of a standard warning than that.

I would rather have every train engineer in the world texting than all of those fucking assholes on the highway!

God bless affirmative action...... with Obama as president we'll now have affirmative action pilots and a slew of surgeons trained at M.L.King Hospital in L.A........ A large % of drivers for MTA in LA have felony convictions and they have no fear of penalties if they screw up...... welcome to the future

RCADE: What is up with the headlines on here lately? Once again, the headline is wrong. While it is very likley that the engineer was texting at the time, the linked story says that cell phone use was a possible cause and that it is being investigated.

Are we using one of these to do the headlines here?

There is a system that would have prevented this tragedy, but it's expensive and a good decade away from being implemented.

Exactly how deep a conversation about trains could this engineer and these teenage "enthusiasts" have been carrying over text messaging?

I bet the engineer wanted to put his piston in these kids' smokestacks.

There is no question, that this is a utter tragedy.

That said, the railroads are incredibly antiquated.

I take the train everyday, to and from work. Here in the Chicago area we have a commuter rail system known as Metra. It shares the tracks with freight trains.

What astounds me to no end is, when there is the slightest problem, such as a signal that is not working, the whole system slows down. When there is a switch not working, it gets really slow. And if a train breaks down, the whole system comes to a stop.

Railroads are based on a 19th century model, and although they have upgraded their equipment, the model is still old.

RoyBatty

I wonder why we don't have the superspeed trains like they have in Japan. With all the billions (now trillions?) we've spent in Iraq, and the recent billions spent on the taxpayers' bailout of Bush's corporate crooks on Wall Street, we could have invested in a state of the art train system throughout our country.

Distracting an engineer in the performance of his duties, and 25 counts of 3rd degree murder.

#8 | Posted by fwthom at 2008-09-16 08:32 PM | Reply | Flag:

Typical Bush worshipping response.

Don't blame the man who was actually at the controls....no, blame someone you can try an accuse of 'distracting' the person at the controls!

Nobody made that engineer pick up his phone and type anything back to these two.