Leaking tanker car stalls train in Oakland

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Feb 21, 2008 | by Eric Nelson

OAKLAND -- A railroad tanker car leaking corrosive material Wednesday morning stopped an Amtrak Capitol Corridor train in Oakland, stranding commuters for a half-hour and forcing them onto BART, buses and another train so they could continue their trips.

Zoe Richmond, a spokeswoman for Union Pacific Railroad, said the car spilled 20 gallons of the light brown, highly corrosive solution about 7 a.m. onto the ground at Union Pacific's rail yard between 8th Street, Interstate 880 and 5th and 13th Avenues. No injuries were reported.

Capitol Corridor Train 524 from San Jose was stopped at Oakland Coliseum Station for about 30 minutes, said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham. Many passengers walked across the street to BART and at 7:47 a.m., the railroad began busing other passengers to Emeryville, where they boarded the California Zephyr train to Chicago, which follows the same route as train 524 to Sacramento.

The area was cleared for railroad traffic at about 9:30 a.m. Union Pacific employees continued to investigate the cause of the spill.