Last week’s train collision that killed 25 people and injured over 130 more called for new rules in order to improve railroad safety. The first step in that direction was banning cell phone use while operating a train, although some of the rail companies already have that policy, including Metrolink, whose engineer provoked the accident.

According to the California Public Utilities Commission, railroad engineers, brakemen, conductors, or rail transit vehicle operators are temporarily prohibited the use of commercial mobile radio services and devices while on-duty.

“Because of the possible danger to passengers, the general public, and the railroad workers themselves, prohibiting the personal use of cellular devices is necessary and reasonable,” said CPUC President Michael R. Peevey.

At the moment, there are no federal or state law rules to prohibit the inappropriate use of cellular phones, and until the Positive Train Control system is implemented, it appears that there is no other way of preventing such unfortunate accidents from happening again.

The investigation revealed that the engineer exchanged text messages before the crash, which caused him to ignore red signals warning of another train approaching. According to railroad officials, the collision was preventable.

Furthermore, human errors are bound to happen, but even so, implementing an efficient safety system such as the Positive Train Control –PTC to prevent trains from passing stop signals would reduce the likelihood for a similar accident to happen again.

Unfortunately, many rail companies are reluctant to that due to the high investments necessary to implement the PTC system. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the PTC plan is progressing slowly.