Engineer blamed for LA rail crash

In a surprisingly swift assessment, the operators of the commuter train involved in the head-on crash that killed at least 25 people blamed its engineer for the horrific accident.
However, a National Transportation Safety Board member cautioned that it was too early to establish the cause of Friday's accident. Others, too, questioned the timing of the operator's move to affix culpability.
Rescuers were still carefully picking apart the twisted wreckage Saturday when Metrolink announced 19 hours after the crash that its preliminary investigation determined the engineer failed to heed a red signal light, leading to the collision with a Union Pacific freight train.
The Metrolink engineer was among the dead, the NTSB said. His name has not been released. A total of 135 people were injured.
The NTSB, which is leading the investigation, played down a local television station report that the engineer had exchanged a brief text message with a teenager shortly before the crash. KCBS said the teen was among a group of rail fans who befriended the engineer and asked him questions about his work.