Investigations Underway After Sacramento Light Rail Crash Leaves 27 Injured

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Sacramento Regional Transit light rail collision landed more than a dozen people in the hospital after one train crashed into a maintenance train in front of it on Thursday night.

The incident happened on the Regional Transit blue line west of the Winter Street light rail station near Marconi Avenue and Roseville Road.

"I was sitting there on the train listening to music and boom...that fast, just flipped over the top of my bike, hit the ground. The guy in front of me hit the bench in front so hard his leg opened all the way across," said Thumper Eby, a passenger. "That was it, then the train car was black...we smelled brakes...I don't know...I guess the other train was stopped on the tracks for some reason. I have no idea."

A total of 27 people were on board the trains, according to Sacramento Fire Department spokesperson Keith Wade. All were evaluated by paramedics and 13 had to be rushed to the hospital. 

The maintenance train was stopped on the track when it was rear-ended. According to SacRT, all trains are constantly being monitored

"That's done through a central dispatch area," Devra Selenis, with Regional Transit, said. "We have a train tracker that tracks all the trains through GPS and that's how we follow the train movement." 

Both the California Public Utilities Commission and SacRT will be doing their own independent investigations into the crash. SacRT notes that this is only the second time in 32 years that this kind of incident happened.

Additionally, the National Transportation Safety Board is sending a crew of six investigators from Washington DC to investigate the incident. The crew is expected to arrive Friday evening.