GILROY
– No law-enforcement agency is investigating who left large
objects on the railroad tracks twice last week and whether they did
so with sabotage in mind.
GILROY – No law-enforcement agency is investigating who left large objects on the railroad tracks twice last week and whether they did so with sabotage in mind.
The early-morning Caltrain hit the objects on both Dec. 8 and 11 at almost the same place and time – just north of Morgan Hill between 5:40 and 5:45 a.m. In both collisions, the train stopped in its tracks and had to be towed back to Caltrain’s maintenance yard, causing long delays for passengers and disrupting Caltrain’s schedules throughout the west Bay Area for all of both mornings, according to Caltrain spokesperson Jayme Maltbie Kunz.
The county Sheriff’s Department, San Jose police, Morgan Hill police and the California Highway Patrol have each confirmed they are not investigating the incidents. Caltrain has its own police, but they can only investigate incidents taking place on tracks they own – all of which are north of San Jose, Kunz said. Union Pacific owns the San Jose-to-Gilroy line, but UP officials in Omaha, Neb. – the closest company spokespeople to California – had no records of the incidents.
Caltrain officials don’t seem to be worrying much about the lack of detective work, however. Kunz said that while two cases in a week of debris on the tracks is certainly a problem, there’s no evidence at this point to support the idea that someone was targeting Caltrain.
“There’s no clear indication that this was vandalism,” Kunz said. “It could just be coincidence.”
At 5:40 a.m. on Dec. 8, the No. 31 train northbound from Gilroy to San Jose hit an object on the tracks, which a Caltrain report did not identify, three miles north of the Morgan Hill station. The collision punctured the train’s air pipe, preventing the train from moving ahead, Kunz said. Later, at Caltrain’s maintenance yard, the air pipe was quickly repaired.
Three days later, almost the exact same thing happened. This time, Caltrain’s report identified the object as a large truck tire. The same No. 31 train northbound hit it at 5:45 a.m., a mile north of the site of the previous collision.
The No. 31 train is the first one from Gilroy northward every morning, leaving Gilroy at 5:18 a.m. and Morgan Hill at 5:35.
Kunz said the delay was about an hour for passengers on the train each time. Those on trains behind it were a half-hour late, she said. Much of the South Valley rail line is single-track, meaning trains cannot pass each other.
