FREIGHT TRAIN RAN RED LIGHT BEFORE CRASH.

Byline: - Staff and wire reports

A Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train ran a red signal light moments before Tuesday's deadly crash with a Metrolink commuter train, but investigators stopped short of blaming human error.

``There is no question the Burlington Northern train should have stopped,'' National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Marion Blakey said Wednesday.

The crash during morning rush hour killed two and injured nearly 270, sending 162 people to hospitals.

Investigators found no problems with railroad signals, equipment or the tracks, Blakey said.

She said the freight train should have stopped at the signal but instead rolled through it at 48 mph, eventually slamming into the Metrolink commuter train, which had stopped. The freight began braking about 1,739 feet before the crash, slowing to 20 mph upon impact.

Although Metrolink and Amtrak trains run on Union Pacific and Burlington Northern railroad lines in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, local rail officials said the chance of a similar crash is remote.

``Our safety records are very good and it has been proven that transporting by rail is the safest means of transportation,'' said Lena Kent, spokeswoman for Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. ``A lot more attention is focused on an incident like this because it's a rarity.''

From at least 1997 until Tuesday, no train passengers had been killed in any train incidents in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

In Los Angeles County, the total number of fatalities in railroad incidents - including trains striking pedestrians and vehicles - reached a five-year high of 16 in 2001. In Ventura County, four people were killed in train-related incidents in 2001.

Overall, California had the highest number of train-related fatalities in the country, reaching a four-year high of 126 in 2001, up from 101 in 2000.

``Ninety-six percent of the rail-related fatalities in the United States are due to grade-crossing collisions and railroad trespassing,'' said Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration. ``Casualties resulting from train collisions such as the one that occurred (Tuesday) are relatively infrequent.''

Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca said its passenger trains share tracks with Union Pacific freight trains and Amtrak trains on its lines running from Los Angeles to Burbank and Oxnard. The Metrolink line between Los Angeles and Lancaster also is shared with Union Pacific.

Oaxaca said an elaborate system of dispatchers - which he compared to air traffic controllers - monitors trains and changes signal lights on the tracks that direct train operators to stop, go and change tracks.

If a dispatcher tries to send a signal that could cause an accident, computer software prevents the signal from being sent, he said.

``We literally run hundreds of trains every week and we've been doing this for 10 years, but these kinds of incidents do occur and they are unfortunate and tragic,'' Oaxaca said.

In the moments before the crash, Blakey said, the Burlington Northern freight passed a yellow light - but did not slow down to 30 mph - in preparation for an upcoming red light.

``That was the procedure called for at this junction,'' she said.

When it reached the red stop light, the train was moving at 48 mph.

It was the worst crash in the nine-year history of Metrolink, which carries 32,000 passengers on 128 trains daily. It also was the nation's second deadly train wreck in less than a week.

Killed in the crash were Robert Kube, 59, of Moreno Valley, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development employee, and Lawrence Irvin Sorensen, 48, of Riverside. Sorensen died of multiple internal injuries from blunt force trauma, Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said Wednesday.

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Investigators use a firetruck ladder Wednesday to inspect two Metrolink cars involved in Tuesday's crash with a freight train.

Krista Niles/Associated Press