Amtrak Train Hits Semi at Crossing

SALINAS, Calif. (AP) - An Amtrak train collided with a tractor-trailer after the truck driver tried to beat the train across the tracks. Several people suffered minor injuries.

Twelve of the 14 cars on the double-decker train skidded off the tracks after the front engine hit the tractor-trailer just south of Salinas, Amtrak spokeswoman Jennifer McMahon said.

The Coast Starlight train from Los Angeles to Seattle was carrying 211 people - including 23 crew members - when the crash happened about 6 p.m. Thursday.

No train cars tipped over, but part of the train was on the shoulder of southbound U.S. Highway 101.

Thirteen passengers and three crew members were treated at local hospitals for minor injuries, Amtrak said.

The driver, Gurbex Singh, 42, of Valley Pallet Recyclers in Salinas, was not injured. He said he was at a stop sign and tried to beat the train across the tracks.

"I saw the light coming, I said to myself that I could make it, but it came too fast," Singh said.

The train struck the back of the rig, which was stacked with wooden pallets.

The intersection, which does not have crossing gates, has been the site of several other accidents, The Monterey County Herald reported.

The most recent occurred in May, when two trucks were hit by trains in separate wrecks. In each, the driver thought he could beat a train.