Nov. 15, 2006
 
EDITORIAL: Train Trouble in California Affects Entire Nation
 
Sacramento Bee
 
Trains are once again crossing the Sierra via Donner Pass after a derailment of a freight train left two crew members dead. The derailment -- ironically of a special maintenance train that helps to maintain the safety of the line -- killed two contract employees who were desperately trying to stop the train. Equipment failure seems to have been the cause. But the incident is yet another reminder about the Union Pacific and how it is running a 19th century railroad in places such as the Sierra that need more and better rail lines.
 
This derailment was discovered by a Placer County sheriff's sergeant who had been responding to an unrelated issue near Baxter and noticed a plume of smoke rising from a canyon. It is a good thing that the sergeant decided to see what was causing the smoke. It was a 10-car train, six of the cars having left the track, twisted sideways aside the mangled track.
 
The rail line over the Sierra has long stretches of just one track. With freight traffic increasing because of all those goods coming into the country from China, trains heading one way over the Sierra face delays as they sit on sidings and wait for an oncoming train that is running on the one main track. In Nevada, there are generally two tracks, but their condition has deteriorated badly, forcing Amtrak's passenger train, the Zephyr, to routinely run hours late.
 
Investigators will likely find the cause of this one derailment, but it may turn out to be a symptom of a much broader disease. The nation's railroad system is as vital to our economy as it is fragile and in decay.
 
Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service, www.shns.com.