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Metrolink commuter rail system adding technology to automatically stop trains during earthquakes

Metrolink is testing technology which will automatically slow, or stop trains during significant earthquakes.
Metrolink
Metrolink is testing technology which will automatically slow, or stop trains during significant earthquakes.

The current system warns train crews of quakes, but latest addition now in testing phase will automatically slow, or stop trains.

A Southern California commuter rail system which serves Ventura County is testing new earthquake preparedness technology which would automatically slow or stop a train during a significant quake.

Metrolink is testing the system on its Perris Valley line, between Riverside and Perris. If it goes well, the plan is to add the it to all of the region's trains.

The commuter rail service has already deployed technology which can automatically notify train crews when a quake occurs. The goal is to give crews several seconds to slow a train before shaking from a distant quake begins. The new system would act even faster by eliminating the human reaction time.

Metrolink serves five Southern California counties, carrying nearly 12 million passengers a year.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.