Amtrak California San Joaquin

[transitteen]

BNSF is planning it's annual "track blitz" beginning January 23rd. BNSF will be replacing ties, straightening and aligning the track, and reballasting their Stockton Subdivision between the Bay Area and Fresno. From January 23rd until aprox. February 4th no train service will be available (both passenger and freight) between the Bay Area and Fresno. and Sacramento and Fresno. Six roundtrips will be in operation on the San Joaquins between Fresno and Bakersfield as scheduled.

At this time it appears that service will be provided via the Capitol Corridor trains (from OKJ to MTZ) and buses (from MTZ and SAC to FNO) mirroring San Joaquin train schedules.

If the Coast Starlight is not back up and running south of EMY this means that passengers will need to transfer from the Coast Starlight to a bus in SAC, take that bus to FNO, transfer to the San Joaquin train in Fresno, and then transfer to another bus to LAX in Bakersfield.

Looks like many of the North-South rail routes in California will be closed in the upcoming week. The only unaffected Amtrak route in California is the Capitol Corridor (where I worked). Hopefully the California Zepyer, Coast Starlight, San Joaquin, and Pacific Sufliner will be back to normal soon.

[rrail373]

Just wondering - does anyone know if the new Alstom cars - 6800/6900 cars are ever used on the San Joaquin route, and if so, what trains have them? These are the type of cars used daily on the Surfliner consists, except in the California Car colors. I'm taking an early morning northbound train #711 for about 5 hours, and would definitely prefer to sleep in one of these cars - as some of you might know - the Alstom cars seats are more comfortable and actually recline I've never been on an Alstom-California car on the San Joaquin or Capitol routes, only the older cars. Thanks!

[etna9726b]

Amtrak press release on 6/9 says a bus connection in Sacramento will serve all the way north to Medford, OR. Could a person, on a measly 1000 AGR points, travel all the way from SoCal to SoOr as Bus-Rail-Bus ?
Sounds like torture, but it's practically free for someone in the AGR program.

[UKEngineerTim]

I am interested to know exactly which route Amtrak 'San Joaquin' trains 702 and 704 take from Sacramento to Stockton,CA.

Do they take the UP 'Fresno Line' ?

[timz]

If you look at the aerial pics you'll see there's no direct connection from the Sacramento depot to the ex-WP main line southward from Sacramento-- they'd have to back around the wye at Haggin. Dunno how easy that would be, but I'm guessing they rarely do it, if ever.

Here's Haggin: http://tinyurl.com/mgsraa
The train from the Sacramento depot would cross the pic WNW to ESE, with no convenient way to get the the NNE-to-SSW Western Pacific main line below.

[NE2]

I believe they take the ex-SP Fresno Sub.

[UKEngineerTim]

I was on board one of the Northbound 'Coast Starlight' Tehachapi diversions earlier this year which traversed the Fresno sub and then wyed at Elvas to reverse into Sacramento union station.

I guess that the Stockton bound 'San Joaquins' head on to the Fresno sub using the South side of the Elvas wye.

[gprimr1]

I was on the June 2008 Tehacapi Detour.

I had to wake up at 5:30am to make it to LA in time for the train, after flying in the previous evening at 11pm.

I slept from Modesto to Sacramento, but when we got there, I had a strong feeling we wyed somewhere, as I knew Sacramento is west of the mainline and the engine was pointing west towards Emeryville.

[jamesinclair]

An Amtrak train traveling from Oakland to Bakersfield derailed after hitting a truck Friday afternoon, causing minor injuries to at least 20 passengers, an Amtrak spokeswoman said.

The San Joaquin No. 714 train was carrying 219 passengers through the town of Shafter, about 20 miles northwest of Bakersfield, when the crash happened about 4 p.m., spokeswoman Vernae Graham said.

The train struck the rear end of a tractor trailer traveling through a railroad crossing. The impact caused the lead wheel of the train's cab car to lose contact with the rail, and the train derailed. It remained upright.

Shafter police Sgt. Randy Milligan said the truck driver, 49-year-old Luis Camagro of McFarland, was not one of those injured and was able to walk away from the crash.

Amtrak officials said the train was traveling around 79 miles per hour when it hit the truck, which is the maximum speed allowed for passenger trains.

...

Police said the signals and caution arms at the crossing were working properly at the time of the crash.

More at:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15699811


Good thing nobody was killed.

In situations like this, does Amtrak sue the trucker for damages because they were completely at fault? What I think happened is that the driver went around the gates, assuming a 110 car freight train moving at 25mph was coming, and not amtrak at 79mph.


The good news about this article is that I believe its actually good publicity for Amtrak.

Hear me out.

219 passengers is a good amount of people. When someone reads "all 6 passengers were ok" the first reaction is "only 6 people were on the damn train, why are we paying for this????"

Second, the article pointing out the speed (79mph) helps derail the stereotype that amtrak trains are very slow.

[Gilbert B Norman]

In situations like this, does Amtrak sue the trucker for damages because they were completely at fault? What I think happened is that the driver went around the gates, assuming a 110 car freight train moving at 25mph was coming, and not amtrak at 79mph.

Yup Mr. Sinclair, that is what will happen; only problem is the trucking company's insurance will in all certainty be 'blown' well before all claims are settled.

Funny how the large carriers with names like Swift, JB Hunt, Schneider and deep pockets seem to avoid these incidents; that is simply because they have on going driver safety programs and can be more selective about who they hire to drive.

BTW, a one time friend did her student teaching in Shafter; that, so I learned, was a 'cold water dousing' for a gal who grew up in Atherton CA.

[DutchRailnut]

Amtrak does not need to to sue, the trucker has insurance, and is liabel by law.
as for insurance been blown ?? liability insurance covers upto several million dollars.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Last time I checked, all a trucker needs is $500K liability coverage to hold 48 state interstate authority. The "big ones' of course have much more.

While obviously the "be legal with Eagle" crowd has no qualms about such, you wouldn't catch me driving an auto with only that level of coverage.

[DutchRailnut]

what they need and what they carry is two different things, there are not many people that drive with minimum coverage.
specialy commercial with our sue happy legal system.

[Vincent]

Here's a little more news: http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x ... s-reported. There's a picture of the front of the train, which appears to be a cab car.

photo caption:

A portion of the semi-truck's cargo of roofing paper remains embedded in the front of the train from when the two collided in downtown Shafter on Friday.

I wonder if the truck driver glanced at the train, didn't see a locomotive and presumed that the train was moving in the opposite direction? The truck driver's attention might have been focused on trying to get around the gates...it was 3:55pm on a Friday afternoon.

[hi55us]

] I wonder if the truck driver glanced at the train, didn't see a locomotive and presumed that the train was moving in the opposite direction? The truck driver's attention might have been focused on trying to get around the gates...it was 3:55pm on a Friday afternoon.

I've never seen the front of a california cab car in motion but I have seen other cab cars(ie nj transit, lirr, mncr) and their is usually lots of lights going off and a horn since this was at a crossing. Plus @ 79 mph you can tell pretty clearly what direction a train is traveling in.