Amtrak contract to operate Metrolink trains begins in June
(The following story by Brian Watt appeared on the Southern California Public Radio website on March 27, 2010.)
LOS ANGELES Amtrak will operate Metrolink trains starting in late June. The national passenger rail company and the Southlands commuter rail service announced their new contract Friday.
The deal has been on track for months. Amtrak will provide train and engine crews to run Metrolinks locomotives and rail cars. Metrolink says Amtraks experience and multiple safety programs fit in with the regional rail services drive to ramp up safety.
Metrolink currently subcontracts its operations to Connex, but its essentially been riding out that arrangement for the last year and a half. In September 2008, a Metrolink train crashed into a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth; the collision killed 25 people and injured 100. The engineer on the Metrolink train a Connex employee had been texting frequently on his cell phone.
Amtraks new contract with Metrolink is to last four years, with the potential for two three-year extensions.
I guess that Amtrak has deeper pockets in the insurance game than a LLC (Limited Liability Company) has. And, if ya ask me, Thats how Connex LLC got the contract to supply Engineers to MetroLink in the first place...Lowest Bid. Corse, another possibility exists, since Connex LLC is being sued, they walked away from bidding on the new contract, and all that was left was Amtrak. YMMV. FOB Detroit, The check is in the mail...
