Federal officials investigating a commuter rail collision that killed 25 people are looking into claims by teenagers that they were texting with the engineer just moments before the crash, reports The Associated Press in a story on USA Today.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators plan to check cell phone records to determine whether an engineer accused of blowing through a stop signal was texting at the time of the Los Angeles crash Friday. The engineer was among those killed in the crash.

Two boys told a local television station the engineer sent them a message just before the crash. A commenter on TechRepublic says apparently the latest thing is to hang out by the train tracks and text the engineer as the train goes by.

With California's recent ban on cell phone use while driving, texting while driving a train surely will garner some attention as well. Tom Steinert-Threlkeld at ZDNet put it this way:

No pilot, driver or engineer should be allowed to communicate on any channel other than an officially approved one, for the express purpose of guiding the plane, train or automobile. ... Seems so self-evident. Not draconian at all. If the call or the message is so important, we should each stop what we're doing and just deal with the message. Otherwise, just steer.