OAKLAND, Calif. — Three people were injured after an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train hit on-track maintenance equipment late Friday morning, disrupting rail service for several hours.
The San Jose Mercury News reports a front-load tractor owned by Union Pacific was working on the middle of three tracks when it was struck by San Jose-bound train No. 531. The operator had to be extracted from the wreckage of the vehicle and was taken to the hospital with major injuries. KTVU-TV reports a passenger on the train was also hurt, while a third person suffered minor injuries and was not transported to the hospital, according to an Oakland Fire Department spokesman.
Fire department hazmat crews were called to address a fuel spill resulting from the collision estimated at more than 100 gallon, but a railroad crew eventually took over the cleanup.
The tracks between Oakland and San Jose did not reopen until more than 9 hours after the accident. Capitol Corridor Managing Director Rob Padgette later issued a message to riders apologizing for train cancellations on Friday, part of what he called “an extremely challenging day” that also included a fatal pedestrian strike and a trackside fire. Efforts to create a bus bridge around the incident in Oakland were unsuccessful, he said, because of driver shortages at local transit agencies.
“In this post-pandemic time, resource constraints continue to prevail, and we will continue to do our best to navigate around them,” Padgette wrote. “We appreciate the patience and flexibility many of you have shown during these unexpected incidents.”
The Mercury News reports the National Transportation Safety Board and state Division of Occupational Safety and Health are investigating the incident, although the NTSB does not list a deployment to the Oakland site on its Twitter feed of responses.
Front-end loaders do not have PTC equipment installed. I don’t know how it could interface with the RR if it did.
The Trains article says the loader was UP-owned. Did it have hi-rail gear? Even so, hi-rail equipment does not shunt signals and does not have PTC.
More information on this accident is available at: https://www.ktvu.com/news/3-injured-in-accident-involving-amtrak-train-in-oakland. From witness accounts it appears that the hi-rail tractor was crossing the tracks at a paved road crossing while clearing homeless camp debris. The tractor punctured the fuel tank of the locomotive during the crash.
From local TV reports, it looks like the equipment operator was driving on the street at a grade crossing. Another worker saw the crossing gates lowering and told him to hurry before the train got there.
STEVE BERG- I certainly wouldn’t “second guess” until the investigation is finished. I wouldn’t point fingers without seeing a completed incident reoprt. What I will do, however, is choose how I travel.
Folks, this isn’t working. One more Amtrak crash. Likely not Amtrak’s fault (most aren’t Amtrak’s fault). Tell that to the average man or woman buying a ticket.
I saw a whole lot of people, thousands and thousands, in airports over the last days: MKE, DEN and SEA. Personally the only mode of transportation I feel safe and comfortable is when I’m seat-buckled in an airplane. Driving to the most airports (other than MKE) terrifies me, and trains just aren’t all that safe any more.
While more than a million in U.S. lost their lives to COVID 19 in the past 2.5 years, some of us said that it was “no big deal” and we should ignore health protocols. Now here we are saying that a handful of accidents, tragic as they are for those involved, warrant a complete avoidance of rail travel. The data doesn’t support such extreme measures. But, yes, highway travel is the least safe by any analysis.
Very good point.
That is your prerogative….however, keep in mind, automobile accidents killed over 42,000 people in the US alone last year, but we all keep on driving.
Drive? Not me. Driving is a death waiting to happen. I fly. I drive to the airport, which in the case of driving to SeaTac is as scary as it gets.
Where was the PTC warning?
It kinda’ sounds like the equipment was on or near an adjacent track, and perhaps a boom, or something else got too close to the moving train….that would explain the PTC not picking up….we should wait for more information before second guessing however.