Train engineer texted 22 seconds before LA crash

A COMMUTER train engineer sent a mobile phone text message 22 seconds before his commuter train crashed head-on into freight train in southern California last month, killing 25 people, federal investigators said.

Mobile phone records of Robert Sanchez, who was among the dead, show he received a text message a minute and 20 seconds before the crash and sent one about a minute later, the US National Transportation Safety Board said in a news release.

Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph H Boardman announced an emergency order prohibiting use of personal electronic devices by workers operating trains and in other key jobs.

Investigators are looking into why Sanchez ran through a red signal before the Metrolink train collided with a Union Pacific train on September 12 on a curve in the San Fernando Valley community of Chatsworth. The time of the final text suggests it is unlikely he had become incapacitated.

The records also show he sent 24 text messages and received 21 over a two-hour period during his morning shift. During the afternoon, he received seven and sent five.