Rock slide delays Capitol Corridor trains

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Mar 9, 2007 | by William Brand

OAKLAND -- A rock slide that buried the tracks on the busy East Bay rail corridor near Crockett early Thursday was cleared in three hours, but it was midafternoon before Amtrak Capitol Corridor passenger trains and Union Pacific freights were back on schedule.

Many 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," he said.

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 boarded at Davis, said delays were minimal for him, only about 10 to 15 minutes. That's normal for the Capitol Corridor, he said.

The rock slide 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 (Thursday morning)," said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham. "But we still had a backlog of trains, and we had delays of one to two hours."

Six Capitol Corridor trains were stalled waiting for the slide to be cleared. Two Amtrak San Joaquin trains that 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 company crew that cleared the slide.

Contact staff writer William Brand at bbrand@angnewspapers.com.