American trains were once the safest in the world. In Los Angeles METROLINK gives new meaning to DEATH TRAIN!

Cruising the Past: American trains were once the safest in the world. In Los Angeles METROLINK gives new meaning to DEATH TRAIN!

The greatest joke about METROLINK… when you email them with a comment you receive the following message:

Thank you for contacting Metrolink.  For your reference, your feedback has been assigned case number 00008189.  Due to the volume of comments we receive regading complaints and accidents about Metrolink, it may take up to two weeks to investigate and respond back to you.

Sincerely,
Metrolink Passenger Services

The way it was aboard the Pullman Company in the 1930s through the 1960s.  This ad boast on the safety of traveling by Pullman.  It was the safest form of travel in America and transported over a 100,000 passengers each night in safety and comfort aboard their sleeping cars.

Metrolink – Death trains in Los Angeles.

Victims of the third rate and totally incompetently run Metrolink.

Where do they find these incompetent bureaucrats?  David R. Solow, the five-county Metrolink agency’s chief executive for more than a decade, was moved to a new position overseeing deployment of a safety system intended to prevent a repeat of last year’s crash, which left 25 dead and 135 injured.  Talk about failing upward.  Solow is representative of one of the most dangerous rail systems in the world.  Who does he screw to keep his job?

The way it is today with Metrolink – the Los Angeles commuter rail service.  This horrifying photos is from a recent collision last year with a Metrolink train and freight train northwest of Los Angeles, killing 25 passengers and injured 100s.  The train driver was texting on cell phone and ignore a stop signal.

The Pullman Company use to have the greatest safety record and so did such venerable companies such as the Santa Fe Railway.

The Pullman Company, founded by George M. Pullman, built, operated, and maintained a fleet of first class passenger rail cars by contract on most railroads across the United States. George Pullman is credited with the creation of the first modern, comfortable, sleeping car for railroad travel in 1858.

From a small beginning, Mr. Pullman created an empire, which during its peak in the 1930’s was responsible for the construction, ownership, and operation of a fleet of over eight-thousand sleeper, parlor, club, and cafe cars. Pullman’s well deserved slogan was “Travel and Sleep in Pullman Safety and Comfort.”

The Pullman Company was renowned world-wide for the excellent quality of service passengers received from the Company’s porters and stewards. At that time, a person would purchase their rail ticket for carriage over a railroad, and also purchase a separate Pullman accommodation ticket to upgrade to first class sleeping car space.

Pullman Drawing Room and Bedroom accommodations in the 1950s – 1960s.

The range, size, and types of sleeping car accommodations in the 1930’s included the most basic — the open section (upper or lower berth enclosed by curtains), to the bedroom (as on DOVER HARBOR), the compartment, and the drawing room. Indeed, the Pullman Company was said to have operated the largest hotel in the world, with upwards of 100,000 beds occupied on a given night.

Pullman Observation Lounge in the 1960s.

The Pullman Company itself ceased operating sleeping cars on December 31, 1968. Pullman Incorporated, its successor, continued to construct freight and passenger cars until it was sold to Bombardier Corporation of Canada in the 1970’s.

Today, rail travel in America is not a great alternative because it is not safe compared to the past.

Amtrak has accidents annually.

Imagine commuting by train in Los Angeles and Southern California with Metrolink engineers sending text messages when they should be driving the train.   Dozens die and 100s are injured because the USA, with one of the worst passenger rail services in the world, is dominated by a government that doesn’t care.

Metrolink, a totally incompetently run Los Angeles bureaucracy, is one of the worst.  While leaders in Washington travel by government and private jets – the people who elect them and pay their salaries travel like peons.