UPDATE: Rock slide cleared, Capitol Corridor trains running normally

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 8, 2007 | by William Brand

OAKLAND - A rockslide that buried the tracks on the busy Eastbay rail corridor near Crocket early Thursday was cleared in three hours, but it was mid-afternoon before Amtrak Capitol Corridor passenger trains and Union Pacific freights got back on schedule.

Many veteran Amtrak travelers took the delay in stride.

At the Amtrak station in Oakland David Jones, of Alameda, who commutes regularly on the Capitol Corridor from Oakland to his job in San Jose calmly worked on his laptop computer.

``I've been waiting about 35 minutes so far,'' he said at 9:30 a.m. He said he regularly rides the Capitol Corridor and finds the ride well worth it. It usually takes about 45 minutes.''

A few minutes later, Donna Steffens, of Alameda, stepped off a Capitol Corridor train from Sacramento two hours late. ``We were supposed to leave Sacramento at 6:20 a.m.,'' she said.

She also was unfazed. It's an easy ride, she said.

Another rider, who got on at Davis, said delays were minimal for him, only about 10 or 15 minutes. That's normal for the Capitol Corridor, he said. The rockslide occurred at 5:40 a.m., not far from the Carquinez Bridge in Crockett, and shut down tracks in both directions. It was cleared and tracks were reopened in both directions about 8:50 this morning,'' said Amtrak's Vernae Graham. ``But we still had a backlog of trains and we had delays of one to two hours,'' she said.

Six Capitol Corridor trains were stalled waiting for the slide to be cleared. Two Amtrak San Joaquin trains which go from Sacramento to Bakersfield through the Central Valley were also delayed, Graham said.

Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said three freights were delayed. ``We caught up in a hurry,'' he said. Union Pacific owns the tracks and it was a UP crew that cleared the slide.