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-Amtrak's Coast Starlight derailed when it struck steel bar-

An Amtrak train bound for Seattle that derailed Wednesday in Hayward, CA struck a steel bar on the tracks, according to Union Pacific Railroad spokesman John Bromley.

The 40-inch-long bar, which joins rail cars to couplers, apparently was dropped by a freight train using the same track earlier, Bromley said. How the drawbar was dropped and why it went unnoticed is being investigated, he said.

Bromley said the Coast Starlight was traveling at 65 miles per hour, 14 miles under the allowed speed limit, when it struck the drawbar.

An Amtrak spokesman refused to identify the conductor and engineer of the Starlight or to discuss what they reported about the accident.

Union Pacific owns most of the tracks that Amtrak uses in California.

The Starlight, which runs daily from Los Angeles to Seattle, was carrying 287 passengers and 21 crew members when the accident happened. Seven passengers received minor injuries. - The Associated Press, The Sacamento Bee, courtesy Larry W. Grant