A high-ranking former executive with Metrolink claims that he was fired in retaliation for calling attention to unsafe maintenance practices that he blames for at least one collision and two stalled train incidents that left hundreds of passengers stranded in tunnels.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, Metrolink’s former chief operating officer Donald Filippi claims he was terminated after he repeatedly raised concerns to chief executive Darren Kettle over “unsafe rail equipment and materials shortages” in violation of state and federal requirements.
Filippi also claims he refused to comply with directives that he believed would put passengers in harm’s way and said that Kettle downplayed risks or dismissed them outright.
Metrolink didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Filippi previously filed a claim against Metrolink operator Southern California Regional Rail Authority over allegations of retaliatory conduct. The authority’s claims administrator rejected it and said the claim was not brought in good faith or with reasonable cause.
A veteran transit executive, Filippi worked for Union Pacific Railroad, the California Public Utilities Commission and the North County Transit District in San Diego before being hired at Metrolink in 2018.
Filippi said he was terminated in June with no prior warning, and was told at the time that Metrolink had “decided to go in a different direction,” according to the complaint. He is seeking unspecified compensation for general damages that include emotional distress, reinstatement, back pay and a jury trial.
“The clock is ticking and if nobody does something about the current situation, something could happen,” Filippi told The Times. “Someone could get hurt, or worse.”
In the lawsuit, he blames Metrolink’s improper care of its aging fleet of trains for several incidents.
In October 2025, a Metrolink train collided with another trainnear Union Station leaving multiple people injured. An air valve had malfunctioned, according to the complaint, but Kettle refused to approve a fix afterwards because it would have led to train delays at Union Station.
Then this past spring, the lawsuit claims, a Metrolink train carrying hundreds of passengers got stuck in a tunnel when a fuel manifold failed. According to the complaint filed against the agency, travelers waited for over an hour until a second train towed it to safety.
“Because the disabled train had no working lighting or air conditioning, and its windows could not be opened, passengers were left with no ventilation for approximately an hour in extreme heat,” the complaint states. The suit didn’t say where the incident took place.
Months later in July, a similar situation played out when another train lost power and broke down in a tunnel in Anaheim Hills. Several passengers were treated for heat exhaustion.
In his suit, Filippi claims that Metrolink routinely replaces broken equipment with used parts from other trains, raising safety risks and putting stripped trains out of commission. He said the service should instead replace broken gear with new parts and “address the root cause of those failures” and that this system should not be standard practice. He also said Metrolink failed to ensure proper maintenance.
The suit said said the rail service’s fleet of 61 locomotives includes 15 “that had not been refurbished since they were placed into service in the early 2000s — decades beyond the 15-to 30-year refurbishment cycle recommended by the manufacturer.”
Filippi raised concerns to the agency’s executive leadership team in a presentation before the spring incident, according to records reviewed by The Times, and again over email after the incident.
Tensions continued to rise between he and Kettle over disagreements about operations and budget, the suit claims. In January 2024, for example, Filippi said that Kettle told him to resume service after a landslide affected a track in San Clemente even though the California Public Utilities Commission instructed Metrolink not to operate in the area without certain changes. Filippi refused to authorize the service, saying in his suit that “operating trains through an area the CPUC had determined was unsafe risked derailment and loss of life” and that “Kettle expressed clear displeasure and frustration.”
Filippi also claims in the suit that Kettle and the then-chief financial officer cut roughly $3 million from Metrolink’s budget, affecting funds for its contractor that handled maintenance. Filippi protested, he alleges, and was later blamed by Kettle and the chief financial officer for mismanaging the contract.
Earlier this year, Metrolink made service cuts due to budget shortfalls, mechanical issues and supply constraints. The rail network services Los Angeles, Orange and four other counties in Southern California, with an operating budget of more than $350 million. It has an average of more than 23,000 daily weekday riders systemwide and an average weekend ridership of roughly 235,000, according to records.
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