Train Collides With Truck Carrying Cars
An Amtrak passenger train bound for San Diego on Thursday night collided with a truck loaded with cars, ripping the big rig in half and littering the tracks with mangled cars for more than 100 yards, officials said.
No one was injured in the 8:42 p.m. crash, and the more than 200 people aboard the southbound train were ferried back to Irvine by train and then bused home, according to Sgt. Jim Feick of the California Highway Patrol.
The truck apparently was stuck on the train tracks after the driver tried to back the rig up on Camino Capistrano just south of Avery Parkway, Feick said. It was unclear if the truck was moving when it was hit, Feick said.
“It was quite an impact,” Feick said. “One Pinto [loaded on the truck] was torn into three pieces. . . . It looked like it went through a trash compactor.”
Crews were working into the night to clear the wreckage and get the damaged train in operating order again, officials said.
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