TRAX trains crash into each other, derail in West Valley City

Two TRAX trains crashed into each other in West Valley City Thursday night. Photo: Gephardt Daily/Monico Garza/SLC Scanner

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Nov. 1, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Two TRAX trains crashed into each other in West Valley City Thursday night.

The incident occurred in the area of 3100 S. Maple Way (2650 West) in West Valley City at approximately 7:25 p.m.

Utah Transit Authority spokesman Carl Arky told Gephardt Daily: “We had two trains passing each other, the northbound train coming around the corner derailed and came right in the path of a southbound train, hit that and caused that train to derail as well.”

The southbound Green Line train to West Valley Central had 19 passengers and Arky said no one was injured. The northbound train was on its way back to the shop and had no passengers on it.

He said passengers are being kept on the train because in the derailment a power pole was brought down so there are electrical wires in the vicinity and passengers will remain on the train until power is safely off.

Initial reports indicated a vehicle was involved but that was incorrect information.

Arky said it’s too early to know the cause of the crash at this time and that may take a couple of weeks to investigate. The next step is to look at video footage and talk to the train operators.

Passenger Elaine Bowman said she rides the Green Line a few times a week, and was on her way home from work.

“I didn’t really feel anything at first, the whole car just shook and then I looked out my side and I could see the other train beside us and it was like, rocking,” Bowman said. “And I thought it was going to tip and hit our train but luckily it didn’t. I saw a flash of light. We stopped and it stopped shaking and I could see all the broken glass on the other side.”

She said officials first made sure all the passengers were OK.

“I’m still shaking,” she added. “It was just scary, like I don’t think that would ever happen to our train, you just see it on the news. Being in there was just, it was scary. It was like being in a roller coaster but I didn’t know if we were going to get hurt or not.”

Arky added: “We’re going to have to find out exactly what happened and whether it’s something we could have prevented from happening but for the most part our system is safe, it’s a safe system and people can have confidence in it. There are things that are going to happen, it’s a massive system, there are a lot of moving parts, and things will happen. The good news is nobody was injured and we’ll get this cleaned up and we’ll find out what happened.”

A tweet from UTA at 9:50 p.m. said a bus bridge between Redwood Junction and West Valley Central will remain active until the end of service Thursday.

“Please note, the bus bridge will be active during tomorrow’s a.m. commute,” the tweet said. “We advise that riders add extra time to their trips, if possible.”

That bus bridge is likely to be in place Friday for most of the day as it’s probable cranes will have to remove the trains.

Arky said the roads in the area are likely to be reopened at around 11 p.m.

Gephardt Daily has a crew on the scene and will update this developing story as information is made available.

 

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