By Jonathan Morales
The Contra Costa Times
SAN FRANCISCO — The National Transportation Safety Board is focusing on the actions of the Muni operator whose train rear-ended another in San Francisco, injuring dozens of riders.
Just before Saturday’s collision at the West Portal station, the operator, whose name was not released, had stopped the one-car L-Taraval train in the tunnel just before the station and switched from automatic to manual mode, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson. Seconds later, the train struck a stopped K-Ingleside train while traveling at 20 to 23 mph.
The train operator did not use either the conventional or the emergency braking system, Knudson said.
The 3 p.m. crash smashed in the front of the L car. Forty-seven people were hurt, four of them severely.
As of Sunday afternoon, those critically hurt, including the L train operator, were still in the hospital, said Muni spokesman Judson True.
Knudson said the agency’s Los Angeles-based investigators will interview train operators, dispatchers, riders and witnesses. They also will check signaling systems, maintenance records and operation of the vehicles, among other things, he said.
Knudson also said the NTSB will subpoena the train operator’s cell phone records as is standard procedure, but as of now, there is no indication cell phone use was a factor.
The on-scene portion of the investigation will take three to five days, Knudson said, adding that the entire investigation could last 12 to 18 months before officials arrive at a probable cause.
In addition, investigators will look at how the train operator spent the previous 72 hours to determine sleep and work schedules, he said.
The scene was one of “mad chaos” as firefighters and medical personnel tended to the injured, he said.
Many onlookers were snapping photos on their cell phones, Aguiar said.
“Everyone was just standing around and taking pictures as if it was just an amusement park or something.”
The station was closed for about five hours.
Lt. Ken Smith, of San Francisco Fire Department, said seven engines, 15 ambulances and 64 personnel responded and immediately began treating those who were badly injured.
He said most of those who were hurt had neck and back injuries or bloody noses and were taken by bus to area hospitals.
“They were mostly just injuries associated with an abrupt stop and being rear-ended,” Smith said.
One of the four critically injured was the operator of the L-Taraval train, True said.
He said the NTSB has tested the operator for drug use, and that the employee will be put on administrative leave during the investigation.
The collision is the second in just over a year in the Muni Metro system.
In June 2008, two trains collided, injuring 16, including the drivers of both trains.
There have been several high-profile national incidents as well.
On June 22, two Washington, D.C., commuter trains collided, killing nine and injuring 80.
In September, 25 people died and 135 were injured when a Los Angeles Metrolink train collided with a Union Pacific freight train.
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