The NTSB has concluded its investigation into the tragic Metrolink crash which occurred on Sept. 12th. As was suspected, the Metrolink engineer, Robert Martin Sanchez, 46, was texting during his time on duty, and sent a text message only 22 seconds prior to the crash.

On Wednesday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger began signing into law over 800 bills have sat on his desk while the California budget was negotiated. He had vowed to not sign anything until a budget was signed, and kept to his word. One of the first he signed: a bill banning text messaging while driving.

As I wrote earlier, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) met on Thursday to discuss an emergency order which would ban the use of cell phones by train operators.

Earlier this week, suspicions arose that text messaging may have played a role in the Metrolink commuter rail tragedy which occurred last Friday. A pair of teenagers told investigators they had been texting the Metrolink engineer, Robert Martin Sanchez, 46, on the day of the Metrolink commuter rail tragedy, and had in fact received a message about a minute before the accident, which left 25 people dead and 135 others injured.