A Springdale woman suffered minor injuries Friday when her car collided with a train at the Main Drive railroad crossing in Johnson.
Chris Keeney, a Johnson Police Department detective, said Shuai Liu, 30, of Springdale was eastbound on Main Drive at 8:45 a.m. and failed to yield at a cross buck sign.
Ron Sparks, Arkansas & Missouri Railroad police chief, said the engine and five passenger cars were moving at 20 mph when it hit Liu’s 2012 Toyota Matrix.
“The train was blowing its horn, and witnesses said they heard it,” Sparks said. “The firefighters got there really fast because they heard it, too.”
Sparks said Liu was trapped in her car for about 30 minutes. She was treated and released at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville.
At A Glance
Train Accidents
The last train accident in Washington County happened about 6 p.m. Sept. 25 when a woman was driving east on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. She was struck by a northbound train traveling about 10 mph. Witnesses said the lights at the crossing were flashing and the train sounded its horn, but the driver told investigators she didn’t see or hear the train. The woman, who suffered minor injuries, was cited for failure to yield.
Source: Staff Report
Keeney said Liu was cited for failure to yield. She told police she didn’t hear the train coming.
“She thought she struck the train, but based on the evidence, it looks like the train struck her,” he said.
Keeney said the sun may have contributed to the accident, though Liu was wearing sunglasses.
“At that time of day, the sun is brutal,” he said.
Sparks said a couple hundred passengers were on the train traveling from Springdale to Van Buren as part of the railroad’s Fall Foliage Excursion. He said no passengers were injured and the train wasn’t derailed.
“We repaired some minor damage and we’ll repair the rest when they get back,” he said.
Friday’s accident was the first in 15 years at the Johnson crossing, according to Steve Weston, railroad crossing coordinator for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. The agency is responsible for installing warnings at every railroad crossing in the state.
Weston said the cross buck is the most basic form of warning.
“It has an advance warning sign, hopefully some pavement markings and a cross buck sign,” he said. “From there, we go to flashing lights and or gates. Typically, when we differentiate between lights and gates, it depends on the number of trains and vehicle traffic. If it’s low, we can get by with just lights.”
Weston said between 11,000 and 12,000 cars cross the Main Drive railroad crossing each day, but the train count is low.
There are four daily “train movements” at the crossing, according to the Federal Railroad Administration Office of Safety Analysis.
“That’s what helps keep the hazard rating down,” Weston said.
In Arkansas, 1,618 rail crossings have cross buck signs, 388 with lights and 481 with both lights and gates.
The Highway Department evaluates crossings annually by calculating a hazard rating.
In addition to train and vehicle traffic, Weston said the formula takes into account the number of crashes in the past 15 years.
“That allows us to compare crossings across the state and funnel what limited federal funding we have toward the crossings where we can have the biggest impact to improve safety,” he said.
Weston estimated it costs about $300 to purchase and install cross buck signs and up to $3,000 for lights and gates.
All signal systems, including railroad crossings and stop lights, are installed and approved by the state or city, but they are maintained by the railroad.
Friday’s accident pushed the hazard rating for the crossing to 3.35, Weston said. That ranks it at 1,008 out of the 2,511 in Arkansas, Weston said.