Vernae Graham said they were taken to three Contra Costa County hospitals Friday night with what she described as bumps and bruises. All 39 were treated and released.
The train was carrying 191 passengers from Oakland to Bakersfield when it collided with a truck around 7:15 p.m. at a rural crossing east of Brentwood, according to Graham. The driver of the truck and a passenger inside were reportedly not hurt.
Graham did not know how fast the train was going, but she said the maximum speed limit in the area was 79 miles per hour.
“When it hit, you felt a jerk and then you just started looking around to see if everyone was OK,” passenger Halim Gentry told the Contra Costa Times. “I wanted to get off the train at first, but then they told us to stay on.”
There were no lights or gates at the crossing, according to Graham. She said the train resumed the trip to Bakersfield with 144 passengers aboard around 1:10 a.m.
The front-leading cab car, damaged in the crash, was removed to a side track and replaced with a freight locomotive brought in to pull the train for the remainder of its trip, Graham said.
She said the crossing where the incident occurred was a private one marked by a railroad crossing sign, but it was not equipped with warning lights or gates.
There was no immediate official word on the fate of the truck driver, but Graham said she understood the driver suffered relatively minor injuries.
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