A conductor on an Arkansas & Missouri Railroad train involved in an Oct. 16 head-on collision near Brentwood jumped before impact and suffered back and ankle injuries, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The board's final report could take up to a year to complete.
The Springdale-based railroad operates passenger and freight lines. Passenger service resumed Oct. 23.
A passenger train running from Springdale to Van Buren with 39 passengers stopped on the main track after it lost traction and was not able to travel up a 1.1 percent grade, according to the report.
Ron Sparks, the railroad's chief of police and safety manager, has said wet leaves made the tracks slick and caused the passenger train to stall.
Dispatchers sent a train working in the Chester area to help. The assisting train hit the excursion train traveling about 25 mph. The safety board earlier said the train should have been traveling at 20 mph or less for safety reasons.
The report states the first passenger car behind the locomotive was empty and one passenger and a conductor were in the next car; the remaining passengers were in the last two cars.
All passengers, four crew members from the excursion ride and an engineer and conductor from the assisting train were treated at local hospitals.
Most were treated for minor injuries and released the same day as the accident; one female passenger transferred from Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville on Oct. 21 to a rehabilitation hospital closer to her Missouri home.
All four passenger cars separated from the locomotive after the collision, but did not derail, according to the report.
About 40 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from a generator fuel tank under one of the damaged passenger cars, the report said.
The safety board estimates damages to the locomotives, passenger cars and track at $178,500.
Sparks said Wednesday afternoon he had not read the safety board's report and had no comment. He said he hopes to have his internal report done by the end of the week. It will outline any disciplinary actions the railroad will take on involved employees and make policy change recommendations, he said.
The safety board will also make recommendations, but Sparks said he does not want to wait.
"That will take a year or so and that's a little late for me," he said. "If there are things that can be done, we want to do it now."
The Federal Railroad Administration is also investigating the accident and should have a report in approximately six months.
NW News on 11/06/2014