Amtrak Train Hits Truck; 6 Are Injured

A semitrailer rig carrying eight cars was hit and destroyed Wednesday afternoon, its cars knocked to the ground by a fast-moving Amtrak train in Leucadia after the truck “bottomed out” and got stuck in the middle of a railroad crossing.

Authorities said seven passengers on the train suffered minor injuries, but a spokeswoman for Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas said six people were treated for bumps, bruises and neck strains and then released.

The collision resulted in hours-long delays for some commuters and others who found themselves marooned in Orange and San Diego County train stations.

Lollie Jacobs of San Clemente said the delay meant she would be late for a wedding in Santa Barbara. “I feel terrible, and the worst part is, I don’t know who to blame. Amtrak? God?” said Jacobs as she waited with about 30 others at the San Clemente station for a northbound train to arrive.

Tom Dispenza of San Juan Capistrano stared down the tracks with his hand shielding his eyes, searching for some sign of a train from Oceanside that was three hours late.

“I could walk faster than this train could get me there,” said Dispenza, who was bound for San Bernardino.

A witness to the crash said the truck, which was delivering a car to a couple who had just moved to Leucadia from Michigan, was stuck on Leucadia Boulevard at the crossing for about 15 minutes.

Dwayne Davidson, 28, a clerk at a 7-Eleven store on Leucadia Boulevard, said he left the store and tried to help the driver move the big rig. But despite the driver’s efforts to move the vehicle back and forth, the trailer’s middle section wouldn’t budge.

Davidson said he went back to the store and asked another clerk to call the 911 emergency number. The clerk was told by the emergency dispatcher that “they don’t handle minor traffic accidents,” according to Davidson.

The clerk was given another telephone number to call, but it’s unclear whether that number was called. A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said he wasn’t aware of the emergency call and that it would take at least a day to review the 911 tapes and clear up the confusion.

Davidson said he ran back outside and used a cellular phone in his car to call authorities. A few minutes later, about 2:45 p.m., he saw the lights and heard the bells of the crossing guard mechanism. Then the San Diego-bound train came into view, its whistle blaring and brakes locked.

As is common on the Los Angeles to San Diego run, the engine was in the rear pushing the passenger cars up front, said Mike Martin, spokesman for Santa Fe railroad.

The engineer, operating the train from a cab in the front passenger car, told Santa Fe officials that the train was traveling about 55 m.p.h. when he saw the stalled truck about 1,500 feet ahead and put on the brakes. It is customary for Amtrak trains to travel up to 90 m.p.h. through this section of track, Martin said.

The train plowed into the semitrailer, sending up a large cloud of dust, cutting the rig in half, launching several of the cars off the trailer and demolishing the signal equipment and rubberized crossing itself.

Guy Nelson, a passenger who got on at San Juan Capistrano, said the train was about three-quarters full.

Times correspondent Frank Messina in Orange County contributed to this story.

RIDING THE RAILS--Hundreds commute by train to Los Angeles each day. E10