Report on Fatal Train Crash Blames Fatigue : Accident: Engineer, conductor and brakeman were probably asleep when collision occurred, board says.

WASHINGTON —  The engineer of an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train involved in a fatal collision near Corona, Calif., last year probably was asleep when his freight train collided with another train, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Tuesday.

The NTSB report surmised that the engineer was fatigued by an irregular and unpredictable work schedule.

“Contributing to the accident was the failure of the conductor and the brakeman to take action to stop the train, probably because they were asleep,” the NTSB reported.

Four people were killed when AT&SF; train No. 818, traveling west out of Barstow, collided with AT&SF; freight train No. 891, which was on its way to Chicago. The engineer, conductor and brakeman aboard No. 818 were killed in the collision, as was the brakeman on No. 891.

Train No. 818 had failed to stop for a red light before leaving a siding for the main track, according to the report. Witnesses said that seconds before the early morning collision, they saw the engineer with his back to the side window, the report said--meaning that he was not facing the front of the train.

That, combined with reports that the engineer had last slept nearly 27 hours before the accident, led investigators to conclude that he had fallen asleep, NTSB spokesman Brent Bahler said.

“The central issue here is fatigue and work,” Bahler said.

Kathy Westpahl, a spokeswoman for Santa Fe Railway’s national offices in suburban Chicago, said company officials were waiting for a copy of the report and transcript from the NTSB before commenting on the findings.

The NTSB also blamed the transportation industry for not having policies or procedures “to remove train crews from service when not properly rested,” and cited “inadequate federal rules and regulations governing hours of service.”

The board recommended that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe implement policies preventing employees from accepting assignments when they are impaired by a lack of sleep. It also recommended that rail workers’ unions and the American Assn. of Railroads draw up policies allowing railway companies to prohibit fatigued workers from reporting for duty.