Officials emphasize rail safety

GLENDALE — Councilman Ara Najarian and Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich on Thursday announced plans to introduce a motion at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meeting next week to address increased rail safety countywide.

Both men serve on the board of directors, which is expected to vote on the motion during its regular meeting Thursday — the first since Metrolink 111 collided with a southbound freighter near Chatsworth on Sept. 12, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others.

Despite recent focus on the so-called “positive train control” system, which automatically applies the brakes to a train that misses a stop signal, the joint-motion calls for a broader look at how the county’s railway infrastructure could be made safer through a host of possible changes.

“Everything is going to be put on the table,” said Najarian, who also serves on the Metrolink board of directors.

The master plan could include increased train coordination and communication technology, grade separations, double-tracking and rail straightening, improved signals, more secure at-grade crossings, cameras and pilot programs to test new technologies, such as positive train control, officials said.

A study of the railroad infrastructure to identify possible weaknesses or hazards would likely influence the makeup — and price tag — of the master plan, officials said

Antonovich’s transportation deputy, Michael Cano, said the motion calls on the transportation authority to develop a plan for securing federal and state funding for the safety upgrades.

Thursday’s announcement was the latest in what has been a steady response from federal, state and local officials to the Chatsworth crash, the worst in Metrolink’s history.

Most of the response came Tuesday, when Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer jointly introduced legislation that would require the automated train control systems for all major rail lines by 2014.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who chairs the transportation authority board, is expected to submit a motion at the regular meeting Thursday that would seek funding support for an automated train control system for Metrolink.

A motion is expected at the board meeting Thursday to allocate funds for a feasibility study on incorporating the automated train control system into Metrolink.