Union: SF train operator blacked out before crash
SAN FRANCISCO — A light-rail operator blacked out just before his train crashed into a parked train, injuring dozens of passengers, the president of San Francisco’s transit workers union said Monday.
Union president Irwin Lum told The Associated Press a “medical condition” was to blame for the driver’s loss of consciousness.
Federal investigators reported Sunday the driver, who has not been named, had turned off the train’s automatic controls moments before the collision.
Lum said drivers under pressure to keep their trains running on time turn off the controls before entering the West Portal station to speed loading and unloading.
Saturday’s crash injured 48 people, including the driver and three others who were seriously hurt.
Had the driver kept the autopilot on, the train would have slowed down before arriving and likely not careened into the other train while going 23 mph, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Ted Turpin said.
The automatic controls are set to stop trains approaching the West Portal in the tunnel until the train ahead leaves the platform, Lum said. But for years, he said, drivers pressured to improve on-time performance would manually move their trains out of the tunnel and directly behind the stopped train ahead.
“Basically it was understood that it was OK based on the fact that passengers were complaining about long waits getting to the platform,” Lum said.
Turpin said the operator never engaged the emergency brake, and a mechanical inspection of the train that caused the accident has so far not uncovered any problems.
The four people most seriously injured in the crash remained in stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital, said Judson True, spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
True referred all questions regarding the crash investigation to the NTSB, saying the agency was in charge.
An NTSB spokesman said investigators had not yet interviewed the train operator. Investigators typically wait until a crash victim’s health has improved before conducting interviews, said NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson.
The operator was pinned inside his damaged compartment after his westbound train struck the end of the other train at the platform.
“He was in the front of the train, and part of it was pushed into him,” said San Francisco Fire Lt. Ken Smith.
Officials said the driver started as a San Francisco bus driver in 1979 and switched to light rail in 2007.
A drug test was administered, which was standard procedure for crashes.
It was the nation’s fourth major subway or commuter rail accident in the last 10 months.
In September, a commuter rail train collided with a freight rail in Los Angeles and 25 people died. Authorities said an engineer on the commuter train had been texting on a cell phone.
About 50 people were injured in Boston in May when a trolley rear-ended another trolley. The conductor acknowledged texting when the crash took place. And last month, a subway train rear-ended another in Washington during rush hour, killing nine people.
Associated Press Writer Jason Dearen contributed to this report
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