California bans train conductors from text messaging

Last week there was a deadly train collision outside of the Los Angeles area. The conductor had been text-messaging while on the job.

There was an emergency order that was passed on Thursday by the California Public Utilities Commission,  or CPUC. The CPUC noted the lack of federal or state rules regarding the use of such devices by on duty train personnel. The president of the commission said in a statement that the prohibition on cell phone use was while conducting was “necessary and reasonable.”

The order came after an announcement on Wednesday that the investigators had determined from phone records that the engineer had sent and received text messages while in control of the Metrolink commuter train that collided with a huge Union Pacific freight train on Sept. 12.

The commuter train had been carrying somewhere around 225 passengers, had ran a red light northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Twenty five people were killed in the incident and more than 130 people were injured in the worst domestic train accident since 1993.