FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2005

   CONTACT:
Karen S. Kim
(916) 319 - 2043

Assembly Majority Leader To Join State, Federal Experts And Victims
Of Glendale Metrolink Crash For Rail Safety Hearing

(SACRAMENTO, CA) - Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) will join victims and victims' families of the recent Glendale Metrolink derailment, law enforcement representatives and state and federal agencies on Wednesday to discuss the issue of passenger rail safety in California, specifically focusing on Metrolink's practice of using "push-pull configurations" for trains.

After a Metrolink train derailed in Glendale during January, killing 11 and injuring 200, Frommer requested that Speaker Fabian Nuñéz (D-Los Angeles) to create a new Assembly Special Committee on Passenger Rail Safety. Frommer was appointed by the Speaker as chair of this new committee.

"Push-pull configuration" places the heavy locomotive at the rear of a train, where it then "pushes" the lighter passenger cabs as it heads one way on the track and "pulls" the lighter passenger cabs on the way back. There are allegations that pushed trains are more likely to derail because the lighter passenger cabs in the front can be pushed off the tracks more easily.

The committee will hear testimony from victims and victims' families of the crash, local law enforcement officials who were first responders at the derailment, the Federal Rail Administration, California Department of Transportation, Metrolink and other state transit agencies. In light of the terrorist attacks on public transit in London, the Governor's Office of Homeland Security will also testify regarding the security of California's passenger rail systems. (SEE ATTACHED AGENDA).

When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Where: Glendale Central Library
222 E. Harvard Street
Glendale, California

ASSEMBLYMEMBER DARIO FROMMER
43RD ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
Capitol Office:
State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849 -- Sacramento, CA 94249-0043
Phone: (916) 319-2043 Fax: (916) 319-2143