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Engineer Never Hit Brakes

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 18, 2008

LOS ANGELES - The engineer of a commuter train ran through a red light and never hit his brakes in the final moments before last week's fatal collision with an oncoming freight train, authorities said.

As they sort through the many possible reasons why, investigators also said Tuesday that engineer Robert Sanchez was working an 11 1/2 -hour split shift at the time of the crash.

"Split schedules are something of great concern to us," said Kitty Higgins, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash. "But whether that played a role in the accident is much too early to say."

Sanchez, who was killed in the crash, began his shift at 6 a.m. Friday, took a nap during a 3 1/2 -hour break and resumed duty at 2 p.m., officials said. His train crashed about 2 1/2 hours later. Twenty-five people were killed and more than 135 others injured.

The findings followed tests by the National Transportation Safety Board that showed the two trains were only in each other's view four to five seconds before the collision. The Associated Press

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