VRE engineers not allowed to have phones while driving train

An Amtrak engineer, who drives a VRE train called HOT 99.5 this morning and mentioned that they are not allowed to have phones will driving the train. He also said, VRE talked to the engineers about the train accident in California this morning. VRE issued them a phone that can be used to contact only the dispatcher or 911 when the train is stopped.

Listen to the audio here: http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/ ... _On-Demand
(The VRE engineer is at the end)

Yeah, this is a nationwide FRA order, no one may use Cellphones, Text Message, or use Blackberries while operating the trains, hence the Text Messaging done by that operator in METROLINK's incident

No one was allowed to be talking on the phone, text messaging, reading email, or using any other kind of electronic device while operating a train before the Metrolink incident. Just about every railroad in the country prohibited this already, well before Chatsworth. So this really isn't big news. The only thing that is happening is increased emphasis on the rule, perhaps an addition to the operational testing regime at some railroads, and increased scrutiny by the FRA.

But, this was never allowed previously, so it's not a change, really.

Oh, ok, in other words, the electronic devices prohibition was rarely enforced prior to the collision, but now, it'll obviously need to be aggressively enforced more than ever now...

VRE had prohibited before the law was made. VRE officials didn't want this law because they would need phones to talk to the dispatcher when the train is stopped or broken down or in case of emergency.

Robert Paniagua wrote:Oh, ok, in other words, the electronic devices prohibition was rarely enforced prior to the collision, but now, it'll obviously need to be aggressively enforced more than ever now...

Ummm...not exactly. It was surely 'enforced', as it's in the rule book. But the Feds tend to overreact to everything (under tons of political pressure), so they issued an order that simply parrots what was already in most roads' books anyway.