An Amtrak train carrying 111 passengers and crew, en route to Los Angeles, collided with a maintenance truck that was parked too close to the train tracks on Thursday morning. No injuries have been reported.
The incident happened just before 9 a.m., as NBC Bay Area reports, in the area of Fruitvale Avenue and East 10th Street, and the crash appears to have caused the truck to catch fire. The driver of the truck was not in the vehicle at the time.
"Coast Starlight Train 11 that departed Seattle (SEA) on 3/17 continues to be delayed south of Oakland (OKJ) due to a vehicle incident," Amtrak Alerts tweeted this morning. "We will update as additional information becomes available."
The Oakland Fire Department, which responded to the crash along with the Oakland Police Department, tweeted that "A contractor for the railroad system was clearing debris from the area when his truck was struck by the train."
The East Bay Times reports that the driver of the truck had "parked too close to the trackway and could not be moved in time before it was hit."
At least 20 Oakland firefighters were on the scene assisting with the evacuation process, and extinguishing the truck fire.
An Amtrak train hit a truck in Oakland this morning, according to the fire department. No injuries were reported. https://t.co/iy1ioYtxjF pic.twitter.com/i7o84Vihqa
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) March 18, 2021
Train-truck collision in Oakland results in fire, evacuation of passengers https://t.co/LscofmDvnG
— Oakland Tribune (@OakTribNews) March 18, 2021
Too bad for those passengers, given that this train takes long enough to get to LA as it is! The Coast Starlight, if you haven't had the pleasure, makes the trip between Oakland and Los Angeles in around 13 hours, traveling along the scenic California coast. This train left Seattle at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, arrived in Oakland around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, and would have made it to LA by 9 p.m. without any delays.
Top image: Kenya Wheeler/Twitter
