Thursday/Collision on Amtrak's San Joaquin

[MP57313]

Heard on KNX news radio: An Amtrak train collided with a car that was on the tracks but not at a crossing. One person in the car was killed, another was injured. No one on the train was injured, but the train was unable to proceed after the collision, and buses were brought in for the passengers to continue.

Very little other information given. It was somewhere between Sacramento and Bakersfield (that's a lot of territory); no word on whether it was northbound or southbound, push or pull mode, etc.

[ericsp]

Why would a San Joaquin colliding with a car make the news? It seems to happen just about every day (slight exaggeration). It was near Bakersfield.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/news/021705_nw_amtrak.html
http://www.thebakersfieldchannel.com/news/4212243/detail.html
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/
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http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/5297651p-5330031c.html

[MP57313]

This is somewhat typical news media behavior after a high-profile rail story. For a while, several lesser rail-related items get reported in the weeks afterward. If no new "front page" rail stories come up, rail disappears back into obscurity...