Western Railroad Discussion > "Look, Listen and Live" Doesn't Work in Oakland Today

Was at the scene of the Oakland Amtrak/Car Collision today as reported earlier this evening in the Amtrak Discussion section. Tried to keep from taking any gruesome photos. One grade crossing fatality in a Cadillac no douby caused by someone in a rush driving around the gates with an Amtrak Capitol coming at 60mph. Read on if interested...


At approximately 5:25P this evening, the lead cabcar of northbound (SAC bound) Amtrak Capitol #542 (running a little late) hit a dark gray metallic Cadillac Fleetwood sedan in East Oakland this early evening. Was hard to tell what exact model vehicle it was since it was crunched up pretty good but in analyzing the rear section of the car it is indeed a late 90's/early 2000's GM sedan. The first of three news helicoptors arrived overhead even before the fire fighters did.

Here is some on the ground live news video from our local CBS KTVU station shot at the scene about 10 minutes after I left at:

http://www.ktvu.com/video/4396116/detail.html


Grade crossing accident happened less than a mile from my work at 66th Avenue (by the Oakland Coliseum) right when I was clocking out for the day. Didn't hear anything from my location but the sirens from the response team and a quick inbound railfan phone call who had heard the thing on his scanner got me trackside quick. Arrived on scene about 10 minutes after the incident and a minute after the Oakland Fire Dept showed up. The OFD did manage tp put out the small vehicle blaze before I took out the camera. The passenger train was probably going trackspeed at 60mph.

Impact was to the left front "conductor side" of the cabcar's small pilot. Little to no damage to the cabcar. Could have been worse if the vehicle was dead center on the rails. Still, it appears from my opinion in placement of post-incident wreckage and cabcar marks that the driver was attempting to run around the gates. The crossing gates on both sides are intact and fully functional. Engineer talking to 'spatcher 58 said he never saw the vehicle.

Knew from the leftover vehcile that there was no way this driver would have survived. City of Oakland ambulance with lights and siren off left the scene rather slowly after a brief 10 minute stay. The body of the driver was reportedly pulled out by a few by-standers. Either the train vs. auto impact, the resulting vehicle fire or a combination of resulting injuries killed the person before law enforcement arrived. The coroner arrived on the scene about half an hour later.


Interesting that the NB Capitol was running the old style "against the current" on waterside Main #1 with a planned crossover to Main #2 at CP Strong - just south of OKJ Station. Weird for NB amtrak operations on the Niles Sub between CP Strong and Elmhurst JCT but CTC allows for anything these days.

Must be hard for the people stuck on board, their loved ones waiting at their final destinations, the engineer for sure, and worse yet the person or people sitting up front at the window at the left front point of impact. I hope they didn't see it happen. Still, a feeling of anger comes out again at this driver. Another dumb move pulling in front of speeding heavy mass object that is unable to stop or even react in timet o hit the brakes. We all hear about the big train versus car/people incidents in the news like Metrolink in L.A.. Still, getting to that final destination just a few minutes faster or in this case just a few seconds faster can mean life or death.

Too bad Operation Life Saver only comes through here briefly once a year...


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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/baycitynews/archive/2005/04/19/train19.DTL

Bay City News


Tuesday, April 19, 2005


Oakland -- The driver of a vehicle was killed in a crash with a train in Oakland this
evening, but no one aboard the train was injured, according to Amtrak spokeswoman
Tracy Connell.

According to Connell, the vehicle collided with Amtrak train No. 542, headed from San
Jose to Sacramento.

The 5:25 p.m. accident occurred at the intersection of 66th Avenue and San Leandro
Street, according to police.

Connell said she did not know the cause of the crash, or whether train service was heavily
impacted as a result.

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Amtrak #542 with CDTX2004 pushing came to stop about 1/2 a mile to the north towards Fruitvale and the 51st Street crossing.

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UP's Stockton to Oakland LRS92 waits in the distance south of 85th avenue (Elmhurst)

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took the short walk north to Amtrak #542

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here is the left front cabcar pilot point of impact. That pasenger's face up there looking down kinda troubles me if they did see the vehicle impact occur...

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very minor damage to cabcar CDTX8308

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this leftover Caddy just about says it all

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espeeboy Wrote:
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> very minor damage to cabcar CDTX8308

The crew had to kill the H.E.P. and shove the consist back to Oakland (note the damage to the H.E.P. cables in the front.)
I was held at Magnolia on #715 while I waited for them to clear into the yard.

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sun is setting at about 7PM but the accident scene crews will be here for a while. Right now Amtrak Starlate #14 is honking like crazy though this grade crossing as I type...

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Hm.. for once, the media gets the facts straight on the story.. Kudos to KTVU Channel 2, whose studios happen to be trackside in Jack London Square.

Best Regards,
Harry

first train after the accident rolls through at 5 mph with an outbound UP stacker bound for Niles JCT, Altamont, Lathrop and beyond

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at 7:29P, follow-up northbound Amtrak Capitol #544 stops alongside #542. Thought they might do a weird passeneger swap thing but #544 did depart ahead after a brief stop.

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Wednesday wasn't a very good day in the Roseville Service Unit.

Things started off with a personal injury to a Maintenance of Way employee on the Fresno Sub.

Next, a train made an unauthorized entry into TWC territory on the Warm Springs Sub (although there are some mitigating circumstances).

Then a train made an unauthorized entry into a Form B restriction on the Martinez Sub.

And last but not least, high winds blew a car out of a track in the Stockton Yard, causing a sideswipe with a two-unit RCL.

In fact, April had been pretty bad around the whole railroad, what with two rear-enders, the fatality in Ogden, and the amputation at Yermo.

When I was in Kuwait last year participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom, I noticed something strange along the highways. The remains of mangled autos dotted the landscape; I asked why.

Seems that Kuwaitis like to driver "like they stole it" (to use a popular term) so when there is a crash, the remains of the vehicle is left for a time alongside the highway to serve as an example.

In this case, the hulk of the car should be left as an example to those who may be contemplating trying to beat a train at a crossing.

Regards,
Burlington John

I watched Channel 2 at 6 last night, and I love it how uneducated these news reporters are. "The driver went around the arms…the arms were down…the arms were working." WTF is that supposed to mean? The driver was waving his arms? He was carrying arms and munitions inside his car? Did the driver have enough deodorant under his arms?

(letz redo this image)
#544 slowly pulls away north and as mentioned #542 with engineer at the rear loco finally started moving north to OKJ a minute later.

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burlingtonjohn Wrote:
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> In this case, the hulk of the car should be left
> as an example to those who may be contemplating
> trying to beat a train at a crossing.

I second that. Put it on a pedestal of a couple of those large concrete bocks we see so often these days. Add a sign with something short and simple like, "Yield or else." They should do something similar with wrecks instead of all those stupid roadside shrines we see wherever a drunk died on the road...

Doug in Auburn, Wash.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,908172