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Metrolink/Grade crossing collision, derailment in Ventura 2/24/15


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#31 KevinKorell

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Posted 23 February 2016 - 01:42 AM

Here we are approaching this incident's first anniversary, and here's some more news. Fox News, 2/22/16:

California county files manslaughter charge in commuter train crash


The Ventura County District Attorney in California on Monday filed a misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter against a pickup truck driver who crashed into and derailed a commuter train there last year.

The charge, announced by Gregory Totten on Monday, stems from the Feb. 24 accident that resulted in the death of the train engineer, 62-year-old Glenn William Steele and 34 others injured in the crash in Oxnard, California. The filing came two days before the statute of limitations for such a charge.

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#32 KevinKorell

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Posted 30 March 2016 - 01:02 AM

Los Angeles, CA Times, 3/29/16:

Federal Railroad Administration approves grant to design bridge over fatal rail crossing in Oxnard


Plans to improve the Oxnard rail crossing where an abandoned vehicle caused a fatal Metrolink derailment last year got a boost Tuesday when the Federal Railroad Administration announced a $1.5 million grant to fund the engineering and design of a traffic bridge.


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#33 CNJRoss

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Posted 31 March 2016 - 02:29 PM

Los Angeles Times, 3/31:
 

Family of engineer killed in Oxnard crash sues Metrolink

 

The adult children of the Metrolink engineer killed in a collision between a commuter train and a pickup have sued the regional rail agency and Union Pacific Railroad Co., alleging that negligence in the design and operation of the rail car led to their 62-year-old father’s death.

 

In a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Shawn and Kara Steele seek compensation for the medical care and burial of their late father, Glenn Steele, who at the time of his death was considered the most senior engineer at Metrolink.

 

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#34 CNJRoss

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Posted 30 August 2016 - 01:29 PM

Metro Magazine, 8/30:

NTSB opens docket on 2015's Calif. Metrolink crash

 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened the public docket as part of its ongoing investigation of a Metrolink commuter train accident in Oxnard, Calif. in 2015.

 

The docket contains more than 2,200 pages of information including factual group reports, interviews, photographs and other investigative materials.

 

SNIP 

 

Opening the docket affords those with a need and desire for its contents the opportunity review what factual information has been gathered about the accident. Any analysis, findings, recommendations, or probable cause determinations related to the accident will be issued by the NTSB at a later date.

 

To view the docket material, click here.

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#35 CNJRoss

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Posted 20 December 2016 - 10:44 PM

NTSB Highway Accident Brief 16-07;

 

Train and Truck Crash on Railroad Right-of-Way and Subsequent Fire

 

Excerpts:

 

The crash occurred nearly 24 hours after the truck driver reported for duty in Somerton, Arizonaand 16.75 hours after he began the trip to Oxnard. The driver went on duty at 5:51 a.m. on February 23, after having been off duty the day before. According to his employer, he was given paper directions, written in Spanish, from Somerton to Oxnard, and he departed the carrier’s base that afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The driver also used an application on his cell phone to navigate to his intended destination in Oxnard.[1] The travel distance was about 350 miles, with an estimated travel time of 6 hours. However, the driver experienced a 4.5-hour delay in Jacumba, California, due to a damaged radiatorwhich necessitated that he obtain a replacement truck. Additionally, his truck was sideswiped by another vehicle in Los Angeles, which further extended his travel time.[2]   

 

[1] Data extracted from the driver’s cell phone indicated that he used Google Maps to navigate during the trip. Google Maps is a global positioning system (GPS)-based mobile mapping application that provides turn-by-turn directions and information.   

[2] Data downloaded from the driver’s cell phone indicated that he first called his supervisor to report the crash at 1:49 a.m. After several unsuccessful attempts, he reached his supervisor at 2:07 a.m. and then called 911 at 2:19 a.m.

The California Highway Patrol was unable to locate the police report. 

 

 

 

 

The NTSB concludes that the driver erred in turning west onto the railroad tracks rather than west onto East Fifth Street, 57 feet farther south, due to a combination of acute fatigue and unfamiliarity with the area. At the time of the crash, the navigation application did not include grade crossing data. Therefore, it provided no specific information on the grade crossing located parallel to East Fifth Street. The NTSB concludes that had the driver’s navigation application included information on the upcoming grade crossing, he would have been less likely to misinterpret the visual cues and mistakenly turn onto the railroad tracks on his approach to the East Fifth Street intersection. 

 

In June 2015, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that Google had agreed to integrate FRA-supplied geographic information system (GIS) data on 250,000 public and private railroad crossings into its mapping and navigation applications, thereby providing drivers and passengers with additional cues when approaching a grade crossing.[1] The FRA indicated that it continues to invite other technology companies to follow suit.[2] As posted on the FRA website, “For drivers and passengers who are driving an unfamiliar route, traveling at night, or who lose situational awareness at any given moment, receiving an additional alert about an upcoming crossing could save lives.”

 

In April 2016, the FRA informed the NTSB that Apple, Garmin, HERE, and TomTom had also agreed to incorporate the grade crossing GIS data into their navigation applications; however, a number of the companies indicated that they were uncertain when they would be able to do so because other projects held higher priority. In June 2016, the FRA informed the NTSB that it was reviewing its grade crossing data for accuracy, and it expects to have them ready for integration into mapping and navigation applications by the end of the year. 

 

 

[1] See “Google, FRA team up for safety; will add rail crossing data to maps,www.transportation.gov/fastlane/fragoogle-team-to-incorporate-rail-data-in-maps, accessed May 25, 2016.

[2] The FRA has also reached out to INRIX, MapQuest, Microsoft Corporation, Omnitracs, OpenStreetMap US, Sensys Networks, StreetLight Data, Teletrac, and United Parcel Service of America to integrate grade crossing information into their mapping and navigation applications.

 

 

 
Recommendations

As a result of its investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board makes the following new safety recommendations:

 

To Google, Apple, Garmin Ltd., HERE, TomTom NV, INRIX, MapQuest, Microsoft Corporation, Omnitracs LLC, OpenStreetMap US, Sensys Networks, StreetLight Data, Inc., Teletrac, Inc., and United Parcel Service of America, Inc.:

Incorporate grade crossing-related geographic data, such as those currently being prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration, into your navigation applications to provide road users with additional safety cues and to reduce the likelihood of crashes at or near public or private grade crossings. (H-16-15)

 

To the North American Cartographic Information Society:

Use existing newsletters and other routine forms of communication with your members to highlight the importance of creating navigation applications that incorporate grade crossing-related geographic data, such as those currently being prepared by the Federal Railroad Administration, to provide road users with additional safety cues and to reduce the likelihood of crashes at or near public or private grade crossings. (H-16-16)

 



#36 CNJRoss

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Posted 20 December 2016 - 10:51 PM

The New York Times, 12/19:
 

Rail Crossing Warnings Are Sought for Mapping Apps

 

SAN FRANCISCO — Following directions from Google Maps on a smartphone last year, Jose Alejandro Sanchez-Ramirez turned a Ford truck, hauling a trailer, where he thought the app was telling him to go. But he ended up stuck on the railroad tracks at a poorly marked California crossing.

 

Soon after Mr. Sanchez-Ramirez abandoned the truck, a commuter train barreled into it, killing the engineer and injuring 32 others.

 

On Monday, after investigating the crash for almost two years, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a safety recommendation asking technology and delivery companies to add the exact locations of more than 200,000 grade crossings into digital maps and to provide alerts when drivers encounter them.

 

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