Over Twenty-Seven Passengers Injured as Two Sacramento Regional Transit Trains Collide
(Sacramento, California – August 22, 2019)
A regularly-scheduled Sacramento Regional Transit Authority light rail train carrying an undetermined number of passengers collided with what was called a “Test Train” in an open field area just outside the California capital city Thursday night at about 9:40 PM, PDT. The train versus train collision resulted in injury to at least 27 passengers. Thirteen of the injured were transported to various Sacrament hospital emergency trauma care centers after the crash.
The crash occurred in an area about a mile from where SRTA tracks cross below Interstate Highway 80. There was no immediate explanation by SRTA officials as to why the test train, with three employees on board, was allowed to enter tracks upon which the regularly-scheduled Blue Line train was traveling.
The crash occurred in what was referred to as “an isolated area of rails”, and drew at least 40 firefighters and 15 ambulances to the hard-to-reach scene of the crash.
According to observers, the test train consisted of a single car, while the Blue Line train had two cars in its consist.
According to news media sources, the collision was the second such event to occur on the commuter system since its inauguration in 1987. In 1999, 30 people were hurt when a SRTA train carrying the passengers collided head-on with a disabled SRTA train that had been permitted to bypass a red signal.
