News briefs

Commuters banned from front passenger cars

Metrolink commuters won’t be allowed in front passenger
cars until a federal investigation is completed into the deadly
Glendale derailment that killed 11 passengers.

Metrolink officials said Wednesday they had no evidence the
seats are any more dangerous than those in other parts of its
trains, but officials decided to rope off the front rows in
anticipation of any changes ordered by regulators.

The ban applies to the first 11 seats in the front cars of
trains being pushed from behind by locomotives. One of the two
Metrolink trains that collided on Jan. 26 was being pushed by a
locomotive.

Some rail-safety experts have questioned the safety of trains
pushed along the tracks rather than the typical method of a
locomotive pulling passenger cars.

Metrolink officials have said that it is too early to determine
whether the pushed train played any role in the severity of the
accident and that they generally believe the system is safe.

Rate hike causes higher water bills

Department of Water and Power customers used 1.8 billion gallons
less water last month than in January 2004, but residents and
businesses were billed $5 million more despite the 11 percent drop
in consumption.

The higher cost is due to an 11 percent rate hike and a
surcharge to cover the higher prices it is paying because its own
supply from the Owens Valley is dwindling, DWP Chief Financial
Officer Ronald Vazquez said Wednesday.

“˜”˜The reason that revenues were up while consumption
is down is twofold: Part of it has to do with the security
surcharge put in as part of the rate increase, and the other part
was an increase in purchase order costs,” Vazquez
said.

The explanation came when the Daily News asked about the impact
on DWP revenue because of heavy rains and people watering their
lawns less and washing their cars less.

Compiled from Bruin wire services.