[If the picture doesn't show up, as I've never tried posting one before, you can find it at: [slideshow-1.relentlesscactus.imageloop.com]]

I was passing by Oakland at 2:00am, and thought I'd see if I could catch the local recently in the paper as having re-shifted to a southern access on Glascock Street, irritating a few of the new condo owners. As luck would have it, the local showed at 2:10. I followed it down Glascock not realizing it wasn't like Jack London, and as I passed parked cars a few inches too far off the curb, the grain cars were just inches from my window. Flares were laid out at street crossings. The train paused and started across Park/29th/23rd. I went across to catch it, but later realized it went into Con-Agra without crossing any streets.

When I came back onto Park around the corner from Kennedy, the tail of the train was stopped across Park not more than a few hundred feet ahead, the last car across the NB/EB lanes. Car were waiting, turning through 7-11, reversing on the one-way street, many probably drunk being it was just after 2am, a semi-truck came and stopped, then a dualie gas tanker. Cars were coming and going in all directions. There was no flare in the street, this was the main crossing to the bridge, it was fairly dark, and the rail car across 23rd was a mineral brown hopper. The train had been there at least 20 minutes when I left. My thought at the time was this was one of the most poorly thought out rail-public road safety issues I had ever seen, a complete traffic cluster-F, and an accident waiting to happen.

I drove to Alameda via the High bridge to check out the trackage there since it may be ripped out soon. I had noticed the Park bridge warning lights still on in Alameda, indicating the train was probably still blocking the other side of the bridge. When I returned to Oakland, I saw lots of red warning lights, and assumed the police had been alerted as to how long the train had been there and sent a car to direct and warn traffic. When I got back to 7-11, about a dozen emergency vehicles were present. A large, odd, four-axle truck (looked like a mobile lab or something) had rammed into the side of the train, it's flat-front cab pretty mashed up. Firefighters were extracting a man from the wreckage. He didn't look too good, but appeared to be alive. There didn't appear to be an airbag deployed. Auto fluids and glass were on the ground, and the lower stair on the grain hopper was bent inward.

When I left earlier, there was no warning for motorists, no flare, no crew member on the ground with a flag. It does not appear to me the crew took proper precautions to ensure the safety of motorists. They may not have realized their train was still fowling 29th & 23rd, it appeared to be a pretty long train. Though it may seem hard to miss a train, the complete unexpectedness of a dark grain car sitting in the middle of a main street could cause disorientation -- as one spectator in the 7-11 parking lot put it to his friends, "To be honest, I probably would have ran into it." Possibly the train length should be limited to three less cars if the train has to wait up the track, but certainly the crew should have placed a flare. According to the recent article, crossing warning lights will be installed in about a year. Probably the process should have been started earlier. There is significant traffic at this crossing at 2am.