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Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism University of Southern California
Southern California

Chatsworth Train Tragedy Anniversary Declared "Don't Text and Drive Day"

Three years after the MetroLink collision, local officials and family members honor victims of the accident.

With the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks barely behind us, SoCal residents turn their attention to remembering yet another tragedy today.

Firefighters work to rescue trapped passengers after a MetroLink commuter train collided with a freight train in Chatsworth on Sept. 12, 2008. (Associated Press)
Firefighters work to rescue trapped passengers after a MetroLink commuter train collided with a freight train in Chatsworth on Sept. 12, 2008. (Associated Press)

On September 12, 2008, MetroLink 111 left 25 dead and 135 injured after colliding head-on with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, marking the nation’s deadliest train crash since 1993. The accident has since been attributed to engineer Robert Sanchez, who authorities said had been texting when he failed to stop the train at a warning light on a horseshoe-shaped section of track at the west end of the San Fernando Valley, near a 500-foot-long tunnel underneath Stoney Point Park. 

Palmdale city officials announced plans to declare September 12 “Don’t Text and Drive Day” in memory of Jacob Hefter, a CSU Long Beach student who was 18 when he died in the wreck. His grieving family now runs the Jacob Hefter Foundation to “support the community and raise awareness of positive choices and promote healthy lifestyles for young adults.”

Other relatives and friends of victims plan to gather at the Simi Valley station to memorialize their loved ones this afternoon at 4:23, exactly three years after Metrolink 111 was scheduled to arrive at the platform. Thousand Oaks resident Barbara Kloster organized the event and described it as “informal” in an interview with the LA Times.

“We’ll probably just hug,” she said.

Kloster’s son lost a kidney, his gall bladder, sections of his digestive tract, and most of his spleen in the collision.

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