(The following article by Dave Myhra appeared in the Oakland Tribune on June 26.)
TRACY, Calif. — A largely empty Union Pacific train derailed Wednesday just after it crossed East 11th Street.
About 2:10 p.m., as the train crept along about 5 mph on a spur line between the Heinz plant and Tracy High School, the five front cars jumped the track, railroad employee Joe Morris said. The railcars jackknifed and damaged fences at both the school and the Heinz plant, along with a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power pole.
No one was injured in the accident, the cause of which has not been determined.
Morris said the derailed cars may not have had solid contact with the track before the accident. When the train hit a rail switch, the cars left the track completely, propelled by about 20 other cars pushing them forward.
“We thought we were having an earthquake,” said Joe Staggs, the train’s brakeman.
Upon seeing the third car jump the track and hit a power pole, “I yelled ‘Jump!,'” Morris said.
Both workers were able to leap free of the train as it quickly shuttered to a halt.
“It was the damndest thing I ever saw,” Morris said.
The derailed cars were mostly empty, except for one holding Heinz mayonnaise, which didn’t spill.
What did spill was 150 gallons of diesel fuel out from one of the refrigeration cars.
“We contacted the Union Pacific HAZMAT office. Right now they are hiring a contractor to come out and clean it up,” said Mark Mehring, battalion chief for Tracy Fire Department.
Estimates for how long it will take to put the five cars back on the track ranged from a full night to two days.
“I’ll be here all night at least,” said Cameron Reeves, Union Pacific terminal manager.
Union Pacific will have to bring in a crane to lift each car back onto wheels, then onto the track before they can be moved.
Meanwhile, the train company sent for a new engine to move the bulk of the train, which sat blocking 11th Street for a few hours.
While the road was blocked, police directed traffic to alternate routes.
The train blocked 11th Street until about 5:30 p.m.