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Good and Evil on the Rails
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Get Help Now!As a child Robert M. Sanchez counted the cars on passing trains. One day when he was seven he ran to an idling locomotive and the engineer took him into the wondrous machine, let him blow the horn, and, unwittingly, set his course for life. As he grew up he often visited nearby rail yards, never losing his fascination with trains. After high school he drove Greyhound buses for a time and then found work with Union Pacific on a maintenance crew. After several years he worked his way up, fulfilling his dream of becoming an engineer. Soon Amtrak hired him. He and his partner, a waiter, bought a home near Los Angeles. Neighbors de-scribed Sanchez as relentlessly cheerful, buoyant, and passionate about trains. Yet trouble was there too. He was caught shoplifting at Costco, pleaded guilty, and served 90 days in jail on weekends. He argued with his partner and suggested they breakup. On February 14, 2003, his partner hung himself in their garage, leaving a note that read: “Rob, Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.” 1 Two years later Sanchez became an engineer for Metro link, a commuter rail system crossing six Southern California counties. Metro link carries about40,000 passengers a day on a busy 388-mile track net-work shared with freight traffic. He loved his job though he worked a tiring split shift. Soon he bought a modest suburban house where he lived with four miniature greyhounds. Again, neighbors described him as cheerful, spirited, and exhilarated by railroading, but some saw him as a recluse who kept to him-self and avoided revealing his past. He abided with a dirt yard that stood out in a neighborhood of tended landscapes. 2 Although friends said Sanchez found joy in his work, there were a few difficulties. He received five informal discipline letters for absences and failure to follow rules. Twice he was counseled orally about use of his cell phone while on duty. In July 2008 a suicidal man sidestepped a crossing arm and ran in front of the train he was
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operating. Under Metro-link’s policy he took some days off before returning to work, but, according to his family, he was forced to go back before his emotional recovery was complete. Friday, September 12, 2008On this day, Robert Sanchez was up before dawn. Here ported at 5:30 a.m. and worked four hours, rested four hours, then returned to work in the afternoon. At 3:03 p.m. he took train 111, a diesel-electric loco-motive and three passenger cars, on a commuter route out of Union Station. After five stops he approached the Chatsworth station 33 miles northwest, passing a solid yellow light indicating he should be prepared to stop at the next signal. He failed to radio the dispatcher and call it out as required. It was a beautiful day there with clear skies, calm winds, and a mild 73 degrees. After stopping for 57 seconds the train departed the station, a random assembly of 225 souls with perhaps the most troubled in the lead. At exactly4:20:07 p.m. Sanchez shifted the throttle from the idle position to position 2 and released the train’s air brakes. As it moved, he pushed the throttle to its maximum 8 position. Rapidly, the train increased speed to42 mph. At 4:20:20 he sounded the locomotive’s bell and horn for the Devonshire Road crossing. 4 At 4:21:03 he received a short text message from a teenage rail fan: “I would like that too. We al-ready need to meet 796. That would be best.” This was about a plan for Sanchez to sneak him aboard the locomotive later that day and let him take the controls for fun. At 4:21:23 Sanchez again activated the bell and horn for the Chatsworth Street cross-ing. By 4:21:35 the train’s speedwas 54 mph and he moved the throttle back to position 4 and braked, slowing it to 44 mph in preparation for a curve. At4:21:56 the train passed a red signal light ahead of the curve. It was a command to stop. Sanchez failed to radio in the signal and did not stop. At 4:22:01 Sanchez sent a text in reply to the teenager: “yea . . . usually @ north Camarillo.” At4:22:02 the train passed over a power switch turned to move a local freigh
