Several of the local media outlets, including KTLA 5, The Wave, and NBC 4 covered our request for Congressional hearings and investigation of the MTA.
- NBC 4: Activist Calls For Congressional Safety Hearings on Blue Line Safety
- The Wave: The Soulvine – Riding the Rails
In case the links break, here is the full text of the NBC 4 and The Wave Reports:
Activist Calls For Congressional Safety Hearings on Blue Line Safety
NBC 4A day after a man was killed and a woman injured in separate collisions involving the Metro Blue Line, an activist today called for congressional hearings on the safety of the light rail line between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach.
A 55-year-old man was struck and killed by a northbound train in the 1600 block of East 48th Street yesterday. About five and a half hours later, a 49-year-old woman was critically injured when she was struck by a Blue Line train in the 1500 block of South Flower Street.
Since the Blue Line opened in 1990, there have been 826 collisions and 93 deaths. Metro officials say about 20 of those deaths were suicides.
“Clearly, MTA is indifferent to the safety of the members of the public who must interface with their trains,” said Damien Goodmon of the Citizens’ Campaign to Fix the Expo Rail Line.
“Absent congressional intervention and oversight to require MTA quickly implement necessary changes to their rail system and internal processes, MTA will continue killing on the tracks with impunity,” he said. “How much longer must these preventable tragedies continue to occur?”
Metro officials said the criticism ignores safety improvements, including safety cameras and gates that stop motorists and pedestrians from crossing when trains are approaching intersections.
Those safety measures have also been implemented along the Metro Gold Line and the under-construction Eastside Extension.
“It’s really been an evolving process over the last 20 years,” said Metro spokesman Rick Jager. “We need a partner here and that partner is the public. They need to be aware that trains have the right of way and they need to stop, look and listen.”
The Soulvine
The WaveRIDING THE RAILS — Following three separate back-to-back-to-back Blue Line accidents late last month, which left a male pedestrian dead and a woman trapped in a truck in South L.A. and another woman critically injured downtown, rail safety advocates are requesting a congressional investigation and hearings on the 18-year-old light rail operation in the city and expansion of the system into more complex communities in the Southland. Leading a coalition of several community groups in a fight for rail safety in the city, Damien Goodmon noted: “The three accidents on the Blue Line, which travels at street level between 35 to 55 mph in dense urban areas, bring the train’s death count up to 93 from over 826 accidents.” He called it “the deadliest light rail train in the nation.”
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