Amtrak California Derailment Accident Injures 20
A big rig truck transporting cotton trash allegedly caused an Amtrak train transporting 169 passengers to be derailed in California’s Central Valley on Monday. At least twenty passengers were injured according to authorities, at least thirteen were hospitalized.
2005 Glendale train crash (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
At about 12:25 p.m. a train that was on its way from Oakland to Bakersfield with four rail cars and a locomotive was reported to have crashed off the south of Hanford tracks. A tractor-trailer that was transporting cotton trash failed to yield and hit the train. The driver of the truck was allegedly radioed about the danger of the oncoming train according to FOX 6 at a crossing that is equipped with gates to stop automobile traffic.
Upon impact, two passenger trains and the locomotive of the train were derailed after traveling 600 feet after the collision and slamming into a switchback near the farming town.
California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Harris told Redding.com that officials have not yet determined the exact velocity of the train. Amtrak train speeds throughout the area at a velocity that ranges from 70 through 80 miles per hour, speed limits on the roadway next to the tracks for big rigs are 55 mph.
Investigators found metal remnants of the big rig inside the cotton seed covered train after the crash. Scattered throughout the scene were various pieces of luggage that had escaped from the inside of the train.
Dave Putnam, King County Assistant Sheriff said that the amount of injuries ranged from bumps, bruises and scrapes to possibly broken bones. The closer they were to the source of impact, the worse the injuries were.
Paramedics transported eight of the injured passengers to Adventist Medical Center in Hanford and five more were expected, hospital spokeswoman Christine Pickering told Redding. The medical center had to call another batch of staff to help assist with the injured people. She did not provide specific details of the victim’s injuries. Some of the victims had to be taken to the Adventist Medical Center in Selma and seven others were transported to the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno.
California Highway Patrol spokesman Jerry Pierce said that the truck driver suffered minor injuries. Investigators will make an attempt to determine what caused the crash. There is a possibility that the crash was caused by driver error, a malfunctioning crossing arm, or something else, the CHP said.
“This is a big, huge chaotic scene with lots of agencies involved,” Pierce said.
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Reviewed by Chris H. in 2012.