Engineer used cellphone just before crash

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A commuter train engineer was sending text messages moments before crashing into a freight train near Los Angeles last month, investigators said Wednesday.

However, the federal investigators had not learned whether the engineer, Robert M. Sanchez, was using his cellphone to send messages when he apparently missed a red signal before the fatal crash, The New York Times reported.

Twenty-five people died and more than 130 were injured in the Sept. 12 collision of a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, Calif.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it confirmed the texting through the Metrolink engineer's cellphone records, the Times said.

Sanchez, who was killed in the crash, sent text messages throughout his shift but it was unclear who he was contacting, the investigators said. There have been reports teenage boys claim to have been exchanging messages with him shortly before the accident.

While the cause of the crash has not been determined, investigators say had not found any problems with the tracks, signal equipment or locomotives.