(McRae, Arkansas – March 23, 2013)
A Salem, IL-bound 56-car Union Pacific freight train loaded with auto parts sideswiped a trio of locomotives waiting in an adjacent track near McRae, White County, AR Saturday afternoon about 2:00 P.M., resulting in the derailment of 25 of the Laredo, TX-originating train’s cars and the hospitalization of the locomotive engineer aboard the standing locomotives.
The accident shut down one of UPRR’s busiest main lines, disrupting rail traffic which averages 52 trains daily, including a pair of Amtrak passenger operations, at top allowable timetable speeds of 75 mph.
UP Spokesperson Raquel Espinoza was unsure of the injured employee’s condition as well as the speculated cause of the collision and how soon rail traffic and the surrounding rural community could return to normal condition.