Conductor: Metrolink had green light

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Metrolink train conductor who survived a September train crash near Los Angeles says the commuter train had a green light before the crash, his lawyers said.

Robert Heldenbrand, the only member of the Metrolink train crew to survive the Sept. 12 wreck in Chatsworth, Calif., told investigators a track-side warning light just before the crash site was green, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

John Gilbert, an attorney for Heldenbrand, said the crewman told investigators he saw the signal before the train pulled out of the station and collided with a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135.

"He checked the platform prior to the (train) doors closing to make sure there were no more passengers," Gilbert said. "That's when he observed the green light."

Three witnesses said weeks after the crash they were at the Metrolink station before the crash and saw the final railroad signal was green as the commuter train headed toward the freight train.

The statements by the conductor and the witnesses are at odds with a Metrolink statement and a National Transportation Safety Board finding that the signal was red when engineer Robert Sanchez drove the Metrolink train past a switch and into the freight train.

Sanchez was sending text messages moments before the crash, investigators have. However, investigators said this week there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in Sanchez's body.

The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the signal system was working properly and Sanchez failed to obey two warning lights, the Times said.