(The following story appeared on the San Jose Mercury News website on August 5, 2010.)
OAKLAND, Calif. A crack in a wheel is what caused a freight train to derail at 34th Street in Oakland on Tuesday afternoon, a Union Pacific spokesman said Wednesday.
The derailment occurred at 4:20 p.m. about a mile west of the Emeryville Amtrak station and delayed Amtrak service Tuesday night.
Union Pacific spokesman Aaron Hunt said an initial investigation revealed that a crack in a wheel on the lead car in the four-car freight train had caused the derailment.
He said the train has been taken out of service until investigators confirm what went wrong.
The freight train originated in Los Angeles and was traveling north when it derailed, Hunt said.
He said the cars were empty because the train was on its way to pick up a load. He did not know where specifically the train was headed.
An Amtrak spokeswoman said the tracks were cleared by late Tuesday night, and service returned to normal early Wednesday morning.
