Engineer sent text 22 seconds before fatal train crash

A Metrolink engineer driving a commuter train sent a text message about 22 seconds before the train collided with a Union Pacific freight train last month, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.
The crash killed 25 people, including the engineer, Robert Sanchez, during Friday rush hour in Chatsworth, a northwest Los Angeles suburb.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday night cleared a rail safety reform bill that would give Amtrak $13 billion dollars over five years, its passage partly pushed by the September 12 collision, according to The Associated Press.
The bill, which passed by a 74-24 vote, will go before President Bush who has not said if he'll sign it. The Federal Railroad Administration told the AP that safety technology mandated by the legislation would have prevented the crash.
The bill adds 200 new safety inspectors and requires technology be installed by 2015 that can slow a train that runs a red light or jumps off track.
The NTSB earlier determined the brakes on the Metrolink train were not applied before the collision and that stop signals at the scene were working properly, said Kitty Higgins, an NTSB member assigned to the investigation.
The bill also limits the hours a week rail crews can work, and prohibits shifts longer than 12 hours, the AP said.
On Wednesday, the NTSB said that Sanchez, 46, sent a text message at 4:22:01 p.m. on September 12, the NTSB said, citing information on his cell phone activity that the safety board subpoenaed from his service provider.