Western Railroad Discussion > Denise Tyrrell resigns

I wouldn't think anyone is shocked about that?

In a corporate setting I would have fired her in a heartbeat.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080915/ap_on_re_us/train_collision

So much for being Candid, Forthright, Timely and CORRECT!. Her comment was right on and will not cost Metrolink and the taxpayers a cent more. There should be more of this. Bring it on!!.
billincalientenv

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wouldn't think anyone is shocked about that?
>
> In a corporate setting I would have fired her in a
> heartbeat.
>
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080915/ap_on_re_us/tr
> ain_collision

Please explain to all of us why YOU would have fired Denise !!
Or are you one of those Corporate "public-be-damned" types ??

KRK

Metrolink is in BIG TROUBLE,it is a DYING BEAST,there is NO good news from Metrolink, she did the right thing.
RIGHT ON DENISE!!!

TAH

Sounds like the NTSB is about 99% sure it wasn't a false clear. Obviously, they can't say with 100% certainty yet until the entire investigation is complete.

I'd like to know if they plan to or did interview the one detraining passenger at Chatsworth who claimed to have see a green signal at CP Topanga. I'd like to know if that person was colorblind.


AM

I am greatly disturbed to hear that such an unprofessional and premature pronouncement of blame for the accident was placed upon the operator of the Metrolink commuter way ahead of the investigation wrapup. Such things will help to muddy up the true evidence as it comes to light and help to sway public opinion away from the conclusions of the investigation when it does come out. It's one thing to make a hasty decision in the heat of battle and quite another to jump to a conclusion in a tragedy as this one when it is already well understood that everything needs to be thoroughly examined and pieced together in order to help prevent another one like it from occurring again. There is a liklihood, that, like in many other tragedies, several factors contributed to the accident and not just one. Whenever I see some agency or individual attempting to cast guilt early on, I look for a cover up.

Denise Tyrrell has shown herself to be unprofessional and irresponsible for her actions. She acted neither in the interest of Metrolink, the railroads, safety, the public, the victims, or anybody. I can forgive her for what she has done, but there are consequences for her actions. She may now realize she made a very poor judgment call, and her stepping down may be in response to the remorse she now feels. She owes us all an apolegy for her actions.

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

I just listened to an interview between Fox News and a NTSB spokesperson who finally brought to light the fact that there is no audio recordings of the engineer calling the two signals prior to the interlocking in which Train 111 ran a stop signal. Perhaps this aspect should be looked at a bit harder than a text message.

Jeff H.

Even though she may be right you don't make statements like that before an official investigation is complete. It's also a stupid thing to say for legal reasons. And yes, from a purely legal reason you don't admit fault up front until all the facts are known. Even folks in traffic accidents have sometimes assumed they were at fault and later found out they were not or only partially at fault.

Though rare, stranger things with railroad technology have happened that later proved erroneous. Computers are complicated and programed by humans.

Recall the tragic accident on the South Shore that was a malfunction? There have been other incidents like that though admittedly very rare. Though tested over and over again, sometimes their are glitches or situations that a computer was not programmed for. And there could have been a malfunction that gave the computer bad info. Doubtful, but possible.

Yes, I know they did a preliminary investigation with what info that had at the dispatching center etc. But the board of directors is correct in that it is premature to make that kind of statement.

No one to my knowledge had viewed the video from the UP loco or the black boxes from the two locos and even then there needs to be more analysis.

And as Fred mentions, it could have been a combination of things as these kinds of things often are.




KeyRouteKen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wabash2800 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wouldn't think anyone is shocked about that?
> >
> > In a corporate setting I would have fired her in
> a
> > heartbeat.
> >
> >
> >
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080915/ap_on_re_us/tr
>
> > ain_collision
>
> Please explain to all of us why YOU would have
> fired Denise !!
> Or are you one of those Corporate
> "public-be-damned" types ??
>
> KRK

fredkharrison Wrote:
------------------
>
> Denise Tyrrell has shown herself to be
> unprofessional and irresponsible for her actions.
> She acted neither in the interest of Metrolink,
> the railroads, safety, the public, the victims, or
> anybody.
> I can forgive her for what she has done, but there
> are consequences for her actions. She may now
> realize she made a very poor judgment call, and
> her stepping down may be in response to the
> remorse she now feels. She owes us all an apolegy
> for her actions.

You're being a little harsh don't you think? She made a mistake in judgement during an extremely emotional situation...she probably thought something like this would never happen on Metrolink (but it did). Give her a break for God's sakes...


AM

varailfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just listened to an interview between Fox News
> and a NTSB spokesperson who finally brought to
> light the fact that there is no audio recordings
> of the engineer calling the two signals prior to
> the interlocking in which Train 111 ran a stop
> signal. Perhaps this aspect should be looked at a
> bit harder than a text message.
>
> Jeff H.

First of all I agree 100% with Fred Harrison's post above.

With regard to Jeff's comment, I think this emphasizes the importance of the autopsy in this case. I'd also like to read the interview with the conductor and see the results of track-circuit testing and black-box analysis before I began to even speculate as to the actual cause of this tragedy.

lowwater

Do any of us know if Denise had Metrolink Corporate's O.K. to
release the statments she made to the news?

P5r24

bradleymckay Wrote:
-------------------> You're being a little harsh don't you think? She
> made a mistake in judgement during an extremely
> emotional situation...she probably thought
> something like this would never happen on
> Metrolink (but it did). Give her a break for
> God's sakes...
>
>
> AM

Maybe Denise Tyrell's detractors will like Kitty Higgins,
the NTSB board member that is giving most of the
sound bites now better. I was surprised that Denise
spoke so soon about the alleged running of the red signal(s)
but I'm not looking for an "apology." It's a tough time
for everyone and I won't kick her while she is down.

P5r24 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do any of us know if Denise had Metrolink
> Corporate's O.K. to
> release the statements she made to the news?
>
> P5r24


Excellent point! I figured she made the statement with the authorization of her superiors. If she just tossed it out on her own she should have been let go. I have a hard time believing a professional would have made such a damning statement without higher authority.

bradleymckay Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fredkharrison Wrote:
> ------------------
> >
> > Denise Tyrrell has shown herself to be
> > unprofessional and irresponsible for her
> actions.
> > She acted neither in the interest of Metrolink,
> > the railroads, safety, the public, the victims,
> or
> > anybody.
> > I can forgive her for what she has done, but
> there
> > are consequences for her actions. She may now
> > realize she made a very poor judgment call, and
> > her stepping down may be in response to the
> > remorse she now feels. She owes us all an
> apolegy
> > for her actions.
>
> You're being a little harsh don't you think? She
> made a mistake in judgement during an extremely
> emotional situation...she probably thought
> something like this would never happen on
> Metrolink (but it did). Give her a break for
> God's sakes...
>
>
> AM

Mr. AM--
I agree with you 100%. Fred Harrison and Wabash2800 are being ridiculous. The poor woman did what she thought was right, at the time. Then Corporate insiders started e-mailing stuff behind her back and being upset as she already was, resigned. Now that is a hard thing to do, depending on ones own financial affairs and abilities.
There are also those on T.O. who still do NOT believe that "text messaging" had anything to do with this wreck!!

First off, read this:
http://www.ktla.com/pages/content_landing_page/?Metrolink-Spokeswoman-Resigns-=1&blockID=57808&feedID=1198

And then THIS item:
"The NTSB was also investigating reports that the Metrolink engineer, who died in the crash, was text messaging moments before the deadly collision.

The engineer is said to have been exchanging messages with 15-year-old train enthusiast Nick Williams in the hour and minutes leading up to the accident. The messages were apparently mundane in character -- mostly about where the engineer was and where he was going.

The engineer supposedly sent a third and final text message to Williams with a time stamp of 4:22 p.m. The accident happened just one minute later, at 4:23 p.m."

The NTSB investigators are going to be talking to all of the teens involved and their families.
As "EspeeBoy" previously reported, the boys will soon be contacted by many agencies, media and learn first hand about courtroom experiences. They may wish they had never said anything to anybody!!

KRK

Thank you and Exactly,

I can't imagin she made the statment(s)all on her own.

This board or time will tell - I'm sure of that!

P5r24

Ms. Tyrrell is a **professional** spokeswoman. As a professional, she should be expected to act as such when handling the duties of her job.

Making rash assumptions is NOT part of the job or her duties. Her job is to take information from the internal sources, package it for external delivery, and then provide it to the external stakeholders in a way that they can understand - while protecting her employer at the same time.

If she was told to say things insomuch as to admit fault, then her boss (whoever is in charge of Metrolink) ought to be the one resigning and taking the fall for it - not the spokeswoman. He/she put her on the pedestal and made the company look bad, so he/she is at fault.

However, since she resigned, it would appear as though she was not authorized to make this statement that Metrolink was at fault. Because she said it, you can imagine that the victim's lawyers are racking up business like crazy, and her statement will be used as evidence in court that Metrolink accepted responsibility. Metrolink will have to settle a lot of these cases for a lot more money had they NOT SAID ANYTHING and waited for the NTSB to finish up the official report.

Just as an Engineer can get fired for causing a train wreck, a chef can get fired for cooking up something wrong, a police officer can get fired for acting outside his authority, a customer service operator can get fired for not helping the customer, or a cashier can get fired for not taking someone's money (or taking it, and not putting it in the till), a Spokesperson can get fired for saying the wrong thing. The job of the woman is to speak for the agency and clearly by the decision made by her and the Board, she failed to do so.

tomk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "...Do any of us know if Denise had Metrolink
> Corporate's O.K. to
> release the statments she made to the news?..."
> According to this link, it looks like she had
> management approval -
> http://cbs2.com/local/Denise.Tyrrell.metrolink.2.8
> 17680

Right, tomk-- KFI radio just reported on their 8:30 AM
report that she DID have management's approval to go
ahead with her now-controversial announcements. She
was not just "speaking her mind" or overreacting as she
is now being pilloried for in many message boards...
Perhaps her decision to resign was more of a personal
nature, rather than being drummed out by the Board?

wigwagfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> However, since she resigned, it would appear as
> though she was not authorized to make this
> statement that Metrolink was at fault. Because
> she said it, you can imagine that the victim's
> lawyers are racking up business like crazy, and
> her statement will be used as evidence in court
> that Metrolink accepted responsibility. Metrolink
> will have to settle a lot of these cases for a lot
> more money had they NOT SAID ANYTHING and waited
> for the NTSB to finish up the official report.

It's still a bit murky as to whether she was "authorized"
to make the comments, wigwagfan. It is starting to look
like she WAS authorized to say as much...there is a link
here already provided by another poster.

I have a liability question- if, by placing the blame fully
and squarely on the shoulders of the engineer as she
seemed to do, and it turns out that all signals were
functioning properly, wouldn't this lessen Metrolink's
liability? Lawyers of course will "deep pocket" Metrolink
as the main defendant, as well as the engineer, but perhaps
Denise was deflecting some of the liability by putting the
whole accident on the "engineer's running of the red signal."
???

OldPorter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tomk Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > "...Do any of us know if Denise had Metrolink
> > Corporate's O.K. to
> > release the statments she made to the news?..."
> > According to this link, it looks like she had
> > management approval -
> >
> http://cbs2.com/local/Denise.Tyrrell.metrolink.2.8
>
> > 17680
>
> Right, tomk-- KFI radio just reported on their
> 8:30 AM
> report that she DID have management's approval to
> go
> ahead with her now-controversial announcements.
> She
> was not just "speaking her mind" or overreacting
> as she
> is now being pilloried for in many message
> boards...
> Perhaps her decision to resign was more of a
> personal
> nature, rather than being drummed out by the
> Board?


I agree with tomk and the above quote by oldPorter...

Fact: The accident occurred at 4:23pm

Someone Please Explain This:


Inbox (10/44)

Date : Sep 12, 04:22pm

yea usually @ north

camarillo

Rob Sanchez metr

o

///////////////////


The above MAY have been written at Chatsworth Station.

It is part of a "back and forth" series of text messages.

And so it goes... And someone on TO knows too.
Who ever you are, I hope you are as honest as
Denise Tyrrell and Timely explains this text
message and soon.

billincalientenv

OldPorter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's still a bit murky as to whether she was
> "authorized"
> to make the comments, wigwagfan. It is starting
> to look
> like she WAS authorized to say as much...there is
> a link
> here already provided by another poster.

If she WASN'T authorized to say what she said, it's hard to imagine that someone from Metrolink's board, or better yet their attorneys, didn't jump up IMMEDIATELY on Saturday and shout from the rooftops that she screwed up. Instead, as far as I've seen and heard, there was nothing from Metrolink management until sometime Sunday, apparently after their board meeting. Even after the NTSB spokeswoman publicly called her on being premature, not a word from Metrolink bigwigs until Sunday.

They let her statements stand, undisputed, for over a day.