Freight train strikes car in Oakley — boy, 12, killed

A 12-year-old boy was killed Wednesday in Oakley when a freight train struck a car at a rail crossing, police and fire officials said.

A 19-year-old woman was driving when the rear portion of her sedan was struck by the train. She was airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in critical condition, the Oakley Police Department said in a statement. The boy, who police said was a student at Delta Vista Middle School just down the street from the crash, was a passenger in the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident was reported at 12:53 p.m. in the eastern Contra Costa County city, and few details were immediately available about the circumstances leading up to the crash. Police said it appeared that all traffic signals were operating correctly, and that passengers were uninjured in another vehicle that was hit by the sedan after the train struck the sedan.

The crash occurred at a railroad crossing on East Cyprus Road just off Main Street, on the eastern side of town near two schools and several residential neighborhoods. Changes have recently been made to the flow of traffic in the area “to alleviate congestion,” police said in a statement.

Like other extended Bay Area suburbs, Oakley has seen major growth in recent decades, adding new residents and housing to what was a rural community.

Officials asked residents to avoid the area of the crash as emergency response efforts continued into Wednesday evening. East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Marshal Steve Aubert said the Oakley Police Department will conduct an investigation into the cause of the collision.

Just five days earlier, on Aug. 20, another traffic accident involving a train happened in nearby Brentwood, when an Amtrak passenger train hit a semitruck, resulting in one minor injury. In early May, another train hit a truck parked on the tracks in Orwood, injuring the driver.

“Pretty sad,” Brian Oftedal, president of the board of directors of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, said in a post on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon. “Another train crash in East Contra Costa. In just a matter of days.”