Train Crash Survivors Urge Legislators to Bar Push Operations
By Danielle Briones
Published on July 22, 2005
Many believe the practice contributed to the severity of the Jan. 26 Metrolink crash, which killed 11 and injured 180.
Kerri Ormiston Davis, the daughter of Tom Ormiston, a veteran Metrolink conductor who died in the wreck, testified Wednesday befor a special rail safety committee that state Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer, D-Glendale, set up after the Glendale-area crash. Lien Wiley, the widow of passenger Don Wiley; Elaine Parent Siebers, whose brother, William Parent, died in the crash; and Steven Toby, whose left leg was severely injured all testified.
They all have pending lawsuits against the railroad.
The Metrolink train crashed into a Jeep left on the tracks, and derailed, colliding with an oncoming train. The Jeep was allegedly parked on the track and then abandoned by Juan Manuel Alvarez, 26, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and arson.
Representatives for Metrolink and the Federal Railroad Administration dispute contentions that the crash would have been less severe if the train had been pulled.
Metrolink's chief executive, David Solow, cited an unfinished federal study that suggests an equal number of casualties could have resulted if spilled diesel fuel ignited or from different impact forces from a pull operation. A separate report released this month showed that safety only slightly increases when trains are pulled by engines.
Metrolinke has had three other serious crashes in which cars were pushed. A total of four people died and 150 were hurt. Two major crashes of trains pulled by locomotives resulted in 25 injuries and no deaths.
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