Calif. rail agency: Engineer’s error caused wreck, 25 deaths

A commuter train engineer who ran a stop signal was blamed Saturday for the nation’s deadliest rail disaster in 15 years, a wreck that killed 25 people and left such a mass of smoldering, twisted metal that it took nearly a day to recover all the bodies.

A preliminary investigation found that “it was a Metrolink engineer that failed to stop at a red signal and that was the probable cause” of Friday’s collision with a freight train in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said.

“When two trains are in the same place at the same time somebody’s made a terrible mistake,” said Tyrrell, who was shaking and near tears as she spoke with reporters.

Many of the 25 people killed had been in the front car of the Metrolink train, which was crushed like an accordion in the wreck.