Crews from Union Pacific Railroad on Wednesday covered a damaged locomotive that for nearly a year has sat near downtown Moorpark after it was involved in the deadliest crash in Metrolink history, the Ventura County Star reports.
The Union Pacific diesel electric locomotive, which on Sept. 12, 2008, collided head-on with a Simi Valley-bound Metrolink train outside of Chatsworth killing 25 people, has been tucked away on a railroad siding at Metrolinks secured layover storage yard, just west of the Moorpark Amtrak/Metrolink station.
Union Pacific was asked by the National Transportation Safety Board to preserve the locomotive in its current post-accident condition, so the railroad asked Metrolink if it could temporarily store it at its nearby Moorpark facility.
As the anniversary of the crash approached, Union Pacific covered the locomotive, which was clearly visible to riders of the train, some of whom were passengers or had friends killed or injured in the Chatsworth crash.
Large blue tarps covered the twisted and burnt wreckage for at least six months, but in recent months it sat uncovered.
In Omaha, Neb., Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange said the railroad decided to put the tarps back on before Saturdays anniversary and to keep it covered until final arrangements are made to safely move it out of Moorpark.
He said the railroad is sensitive to concerns expressed by some daily Metrolink and Amtrak riders who were forced to view the damaged engine as their trains pass next to the storage location.
Most evenings, the Metrolink train ends up in Moorpark, one track over from the damaged locomotive.
One rider, Ian Cannon, who commutes a few days a week to his job in Canoga Park, wasnt on the train that crashed last year but lost friends in the accident.
Its kind of disconcerting" (to see the Union Pacific engine every day)." the 53-year-old Cannon said. "Why doesnt UP put that away somewhere else? Its a reminder every day; theres the locomotive that killed my friend."
Moorpark Mayor Janice Parvin described the uncovered damaged train as a disturbing daily reminder to her, when she commutes to City Hall. She has friends who lost their lives in the accident and others, including Moorpark Planning Commissioner Kipp Landis, who were injured.
For most of the past year not many people who drove their vehicles along Spring Street and crossed the main rail lines through Moorpark knew what was under the tarp that completely covered the 4,300-horsepower locomotive.
Then around June, major portions of the burnt left side of locomotive No. 8485 became visible, along with the front end of the freight engine, which was crushed when the commuter locomotive crashed head-on into the freight train. It remained that way until Wednesday.
Based on information obtained this week, it appears the damaged locomotive will remain in Moorpark for awhile awaiting federal approval to move it.
On Sept. 1, Union Pacific petitioned the Federal Railroad Administrations regional office in Sacramento for permission to move the locomotive, the first step in the legal process.
The administration dispatched a mechanical inspector to Moorpark last week to join a Union Pacific team and re-evaluate the locomotive and come up with a plan to safely move it.
The damages are making it a very challenging situation," said Warren Flatau, a senior spokesman for the administration in Washington. He noted the engine doesnt have couplers normally used to hook rail cars and engines together.
The administration and Union Pacific experts are working on formulating a plan that would be least disruptive to the trains that daily move along the Pacific Coast rail corridor that joins San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Options include towing the damaged engine and hoping it doesnt break in the process or taking the wheels off and moving it by flat bed rail car to Union Pacifics main West Coast engine maintenance facility in Colton.
Once a final plan is approved by the administration, it would take a week or two for the engine to be moved.
The NTSBs final report on its investigation into the commuter rail accident isnt expected to be completed for several more months.
(This item appeared Sept. 10, 2009, in the Ventura County Star.)
