Safety Measures Help Passengers Escape From Train Crash

The situation in Oxnard was a trainwreck, but thanks to safety features implemented by Metrolink trains, it was not as bad as it could have been. 

Although 28 people were transported to the hospital with injuries ranging from mild to critical, no one was killed in the collision Tuesday morning. After the 2005 Metrolink collision in Glendale that left 11 people dead and another 180 injured, Metrolink implemented new technology into their trains in order to prevent future disasters. 

That technology includes improved bumpers that crumple on impact in order to absorb the energy of the collision. Additionally, the cuplers, the parts of the train that connect one car to another, were updated so that they too help to absorb some of the shock of the collision. This collision is just another in a history of Metrolink crashes, the most recent coming in September 2014. 

Both Tuesday's collision and last September's happened at at-grade intersections, intersections where the train tracks and the road are at the same height. Many civl engineers, including USC Professor Nejmedi Meshkati, believe that the reason why these collisions continue to occur is due to issues inherent to At-grade intersections.

Meshkati, in a report, suggests that a combination of factors, including personal error, unclear signage, and lack of visibility, confound to make At-grade intersections extremely dangerous. Meshkati posits that Seperate-grade intersections, intersections where the train either goes above the road or underground, would make transit much safer across not just California, but the United States.

More information about Meshkati's findings can be found here and here