Impact of Metrolink, Truck Crash May Have Destroyed Vital Clues : Accident: An NTSB official says investigators are trying to determine why driver was on tracks. A preliminary report is expected Monday.

Preliminary results of an investigation into the fatal crash of a Metrolink train in Pacoima may be available late Monday, but the chief investigator expressed concern Friday that the powerful collision may have destroyed valuable clues about its cause.

Dave Watson, chief investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the engine of the dump truck hit by the train may be “too chewed up” to permit safety investigators to determine whether truck driver Jaime Farias, 37, of Los Angeles stalled on the tracks or was trying to outrun the train when he was killed Wednesday.

The coroner’s office is expected to release autopsy results Monday indicating the official cause of death for Farias, who suffered massive head injuries.

Twelve of 80 Metrolink passengers were slightly injured when the train, traveling at 77 m.p.h., barreled into the Los Angeles street maintenance truck Farias was driving past an unguarded crossing.

The accident was the first for the new commuter train service, which began Oct. 26.

Ridership dropped significantly Friday on the same Metrolink train line that derailed in the crash, but officials attributed the decrease to the Thanksgiving weekend. Only 10 people were aboard the train at 6:50 a.m. Friday when it passed the unguarded crossing in Pacoima.

A Metrolink spokesman said he expects ridership to return to normal Monday when government offices and downtown businesses reopen.

“All of downtown is a ghost town today,” said Metrolink spokesman Michael Bustamante of the decrease in ridership on the first day of commuter rail service after Thanksgiving.

Even the offices of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, where Bustamante works, were empty. “There are over 400 people at LACTC, for example, but only two were foolish (enough) to come in today,” he said.

Passengers had their choice of seats Friday on the second of three morning trains from Santa Clarita to downtown Los Angeles, the line involved in Wednesday’s accident.

Most of the 10 people aboard the double-decker train Friday were also riding the train Wednesday when it hit the five-ton dump truck, sending flames, smoke and debris about 50 feet into the air and scattering twisted truck parts for nearly half a mile along the tracks.

“The collision was so loud my ears hurt,” Santa Clarita resident Steve Noonan said. “Then I looked out the window and saw the cab of the truck rolling away from the train. Then the heat from the flames slapped me in the face and I went spread-eagle on the floor.

“But I’m not going to give up on the train just because of one crash,” he said.

Nonetheless, no one except the engineer and conductor dared to ride in the front car Friday, including Noonan.

“I’ll probably never ride in the coffin car again,” he said.