RAILforum: #14 Minor Derailment

This is topic #14 Minor Derailment in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

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Posted by Eric (Member # 674) on :

The northbound Coast Starlight hit "something" on the tracks at about 10:10 PST last night. The lead unit derailed, along with five cars, but all remained upright, and there were only minor injuries reported.
More info to come.

Posted by Buslady (Member # 1266) on :

I'm anxiously waiting for info!I hope we dont hit anything or go off next week on the Sunset #1....

Posted by Eric (Member # 674) on :

Here is a short article about it: http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/4079809p-5106932c.html

I wouldn't worry Bus Lady. Although sometimes trains hit things on the tracks (not really a daily occurence for Amtrak), most objects aren't a match for a 268,000 lb locomotive (not to mention the train). I'm not sure what the Starlight hit, but the trains most-often come out of it in one piece.

Posted by Buslady (Member # 1266) on :

Yeah thats true, we ceratinly knew when we hit skunks on the #2 hehehe...peeeeuuu!
I saw a dried up cow bones right by the tracks in texas, i wondered if the cow was hit by the train.

Posted by Eric (Member # 674) on :

http://www.railnews.net/cgi-bin/news/golink.exe?http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/08/22/MN13605.DTL

Rumors are of a drawbar of a previous train causing it...

Posted by Eric (Member # 674) on :

Here's a quick follow-up:

******
-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

Info from: http://railroadnews.net/news/8-26.html

Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :

Of course it is paramount that there were no serious injuries arising from the incident, however, serious damage believed irreparable was reportedly caused to both an S-II Sleeper and T-Dorm - two types of cars that are in critical supply.

Further adding insult to injury is that the existing contractual relationships between the railroads and Amtrak does not permit any recovery by Amtrak against the UP for this apparently lost equipment.