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Two years after Chatsworth crash, Metrolink tries to look forward
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A plaque at Los Angeles' Union Station entitled "Unfinished Journeys" honors the passengers and rescuers who were affected by the Sept. 12, 2008 Metrolink crash in Chatsworth.
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Brian Watt/KPCC
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Richard Myles of Moorpark, Calif., is one of the survivors of the 2008 Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth that killed 25 people and injured 135.
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Kim Nowacki/KPCC
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Sunday marks two years since a Metrolink commuter train collided with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth. The crash killed 25 people and injured 135. The deadliest crash in the 18 years since Metrolink trains have been running has led to a lot of changes at the commuter rail service. One of them is new Chief Executive Officer John Fenton.
On a ride from San Bernardino to Los Angeles, Fenton loved watching the cars poke along on the 10 Freeway as his train sped toward L.A. Fenton has worked for Metrolink for only six months. He was in Denver the day of the Chatsworth crash.
"When I saw the news come across, my heart sank," said Fenton, whose railroad career has stops at Union Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, even a general manager post at Canadian National Railway. Twice, he’s been in charge of safety.
"Being a professional railroader, everyone remembers where they were the day of Chatsworth. It was like September 11 - you don’t forget where you were and what you were doing."
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Sixty-year-old Richard Myles of Moorpark would like to forget, but his body reminds him daily.
"I broke my neck in several pieces and crushed part of the bones in my neck," he explains at his kitchen table.
Myles had been in a Metrolink crash before – in Glendale in 2005. The former division manager of the City of Los Angeles’ trash collection services says after that, he rode in the last car only. But when he hopped on the northbound Metrolink train two years ago, the last car was full. He took a seat in the second car – behind the locomotive and car number one. Most of the passengers who died in the Chatsworth crash were riding car number one.
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