Derailed train carrying soybean oil knocks out power for more than 17,000 PG&E customers in San Joaquin County

More than 17,000 PG&E customers in San Joaquin County, the majority of which were located in central and south Stockton, went without power Monday morning after a train carrying soybean oil derailed and damaged multiple transmission towers.

Most of the customers have since had their power restored, according to the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and the rest were expected to be back online by the end of the day.

Police have said the tracks in the area of the derailed train pose an electrocution hazard, and county officials say an unknown amount of soybean oil has been spilled. Vehicles of an environmental waste company were also seen near the crash site.

“PG&E crews are at the scene to assess the significant damage to our equipment,” PG&E spokesperson Mike Gazda told Stocktonia Monday afternoon. “We’re working with first responders to make the situation safe.”

At around 8 a.m. Monday, a train derailed near South McKinley Avenue between Industrial Drive and a three-way intersection where Clayton Avenue meets South McKinley Avenue and South El Dorado Street in south Stockton.

PG&E officials described the loss of power to thousand of its customers as a “transmission level outage.” At least two transformer towers in the area appeared to be affected, both of which could be seen with structural damage from the roadway.

“Earlier this morning, a Union pacific rail tanker derailed and struck a power pole, releasing an unknown amount of soybean oil,” the San Joaquin County of Emergences Service said in a social media post just before 11 a.m. Monday. “We continue working with PG&E to ensure power is restored for our impacted community members.”

Police have blocked off McKinley Avenue from Industrial Drive to the three-way intersection where Clayton Avenue meets South McKinley Avenue and South El Dorado Street. Just west of the intersection on Clayton Avenue is a residential area. Just east of the crash is an industrial area with warehouses.

The train had been pulling what appeared to be black oil tank cars, which the county has said were carrying soybean oil, along tracks running parallel to South El Dorado Street, with South McKinley Avenue running along at angle along the other side. Three tank cars on one end of the train had derailed, with two having flipped on their sides next to a downed PG&E transmission tower.

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The top of another tower near the three-way Clayton Avenue intersection was bent over, but the base of the tower appeared to still be standing.

Officers at the scene had also described the tracks as an electrocution hazard. Sparks could be seen from the train coupling.

A PG&E mobile command unit and Xfinity crews were seen near the site of the derailed train throughout the morning and early afternoon, as well as vehicles from GrayMar Environmental, Inc. The company, which has four California locations, is described online as “providing comprehensive hazardous waste soil remediation and national response services.”

“PG&E crews are on the ground now, working closely with first responders. Our first priority is making the area safe,” PG&E officials said of the outage via social media just before 10 a.m. Monday morning “Once the site is secure, we will begin damage assessment and restoration work.”

It’s unclear how much soybean oil the train was carrying or how much of the oil spilled in the crash. City and county officials referred questions about the train’s derailment to Union Pacific Railroad, which did not immediately respond to multiple requests for information regarding the crash.

Soybean oil is used for a variety of food purposes either with or without processing. These include cooking and salad oils, spreads and shortenings, mayonnaise, and salad dressings. There are a host of nonfood uses which include semidrying oil, biofuel, plasticizer, and in inks and lubricants.

PG&E crews appeared to be working quickly throughout the day to restore power to its customers.

The power company’s outage map initially showed more than 17,000 county customers, the majority of which were located in Stockton, were without power after the train derailed at around 8 a.m. Gazda said that number had reduced to about 4,300 just before noon and then to about 2,400 by 12:30 p.m.

“PG&E was able to reroute power to restore service to customers,” he said.

Power had been restored to all but approximately 100 customers by 3:30 p.m., with PG7E reporting it expected the majority of those to be restored in the next couple of hours.

The remaining customers will be without power until final repairs are made,” Gazda said later in the afternoon Monday. “PG&E will be reaching out to those customers.”

Various traffic lights near downtown Stockton were out of service throughout the morning and Stockton police said that a few of its officers and community service officers are assisting with traffic control in outage areas.

“We have not had an influx of traffic collisions reported,” police spokesperson David Scott told Stocktonia. “Thankfully, there isn’t any dense fog or other inclement weather that is limiting visibility.”

“As a reminder to vehicles and pedestrians, when traffic lights are, it is treated as a stop sign,” he added.