[glow=black]The driver of a US passenger train had been sending texts before it went through a red light and caused a crash that killed 25 people, investigators say.[/glow]
The train failed to brake at the stop signal and smashed into another service in Chatsworth, 30 miles north-west of Los Angeles, at the weekend.
More than 130 people were injured in the incident, the worst seen on an American railway in 15 years.
Metrolink train operator Robert Sanchez, who was killed in the crash, had been sending text messages while on duty the day of the collision, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed.
However, the board did not say when Mr Sanchez sent the messages, or whether it thinks they caused the tragedy.
Local media reported that a teenage train enthusiast claims to have received a text from the engineer minutes before the collision.
The NTSB said it had spoken to two boys and their families "and they've been fully co-operative. They're two young teenage boys who love trains, apparently rode the train and knew the engineer," said Kitty Higgins, a member of the NTSB.
"And there's some issue about whether they were texting with him, and that's what we're trying to track down."
Sending texts while driving a train is a violation of operator Metrolink's policy but not illegal. California's top rail safety regulator says he will now seek an emergency order banning train operators from using their phones while on duty.