About a dozen PG&E customers in south Stockton are still without power a day after the derailment of a train carrying soybean oil damaged multiple transmission towers.
The crash knocked out power for more than 17,000 residents and businesses in San Joaquin County Monday morning. Most had their power back on by the end of the day.
Joshua Simes, PG&E’s Central Valley regional vice president, said the power company is keeping in contact with the roughly dozen remaining customers who remain without electricity. PG&E has offered to supply generators to those still being affected by the outage until power can be rerouted, Simes said, but they’ve so far declined.
“They’re okay for the next couple days, but we are continuously in contact with them and talking to them,” Simes said.
PG&E officials said these 12 locations that are without power may not be in use or not used often enough to not need power immediately.
At around 8:30 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.
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, near South McKinley Avenue. 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.
The top of another transmission tower near the three-way Clayton Avenue intersection was bent over, but the base of the tower appeared to still be standing.
Just west of the intersection on Clayton Avenue is a residential area. Just east of the crash is an industrial area with warehouses.
PG&E crews have continued working overnight, rotating shifts to make the repairs, Simes said. However, he says there’s no timeline yet as to when new towers can be erected.
Police said on Monday the tracks in the area of the crash pose an electrocution hazard. However on Tuesday, PG&E referred questions to Union Pacific Railroad on whether the tracks are still electrified.
The railroad company did not return Stocktonia’s multiple calls for comment.
On Tuesday, police continued to block off McKinley Avenue from Industrial Drive to the three-way intersection where Clayton Avenue meets South McKinley Avenue and South El Dorado Street. The area was also closed all of Monday.
El Dorado Street was also blocked off Monday and Tuesday from the three-way intersection to French Camp Road.
The derailed train has since been removed and the tracks are back in operation, as PG&E crews continue work to replace the two damaged transmission towers. Two of the tank cars also remained on the side of the tracks Tuesday, with damage visible to the outside of the tankers.
Where the downed PG&E transmission tower once stood next to the train tracks, crews appeared to be placing a wooden electric tower in its place.
PG&E crews on site of the crash cautioned people to stay away from the affected tracks. Police on scene Monday had also warned the tracks were an electrocution hazard and sparking could be seen from the train’s couplings.
GrayMar Environmental Inc. vehicles with large tanks were also on site Tuesday. The company, which has four California locations and had deployed vehicles to the crash area Monday, is described online as “providing comprehensive hazardous waste soil remediation and national response services.”
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 also referred questions about the train’s derailment Monday to Union Pacific Railroad, which did not immediately respond to multiple requests for information regarding the crash.
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