IT will be at least six months before authorities can shed light on the cause of a fatal railway accident at Newbridge last month, a spokesman for Australian Rail Track Corporation said yesterday.
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The spokesman had been asked if interim recommendations to improve safety had been made in view of the circumstances surrounding the crash between a westbound Country-Link XPT and an excavator about 11.30am on Wednesday, May 5.
It was a miracle that the XPT – with 71 passengers on board – stayed on the tracks as it rounded a sweeping bend and crashed into the excavator, killing the 25-year-old driver, Luke Jenkinson of Bathurst.
Investigators said the accident had the potential to have taken more lives and injured many people. As it was, only one passenger suffered a cut head and was treated at the scene.
ARTC said that a number of agencies and authorities were conducting investigations into the crash and would report to the coroner.
The investigation involved Chifley command police, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, NSW Transport Regulatory Authority, WorkCover, CountryLink and an Occupational Health and Safety Assurance Branch NSW.
The Bathurst coroner had also been notified of the tragedy.
Mr Jenkinson, formerly of Dunedoo, had moved to live and work in Bathurst shortly before the accident a few kilometres from Newbridge railway station.
He was working alongside his brother, Marc Jenkinson, and another Bathurst man, Heath Hotham, and died from injuries he suffered at the scene.
Within hours of the crash, investigators were at the crash site, led by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
The investigators understood the XPT could have been driven at 80km/h when it arrived at the point where the excavator was on the track just west of a deep rail cutting.
There would have been little or no time to warn Mr Jenkinson of the approaching train, the inquiry agents said.
