Company trucks in Amtrak train collision cited in previous accidents - Los Angeles Times

Investigators National Transportation Safety Board returned Sunday to the wreckage to search for clues and more victims. (Marilyn Newton / Associated Press)The Nevada company under supervision in a fatal accident with a trucking Amtrak train has been cited repeatedly by the authorities of the State for accidents, dangerous driving as a truck with tires so bald, that vehicle must be taken off the coast of the road.

A driver working for John Davis of trucking of Battle Mountain, Nevada, broken by gates pass and two passenger cars on two floors of the California Zephyr to the West end Friday, killing six people.

Federal documents reviewed by the Associated Press shows that the Department of public safety of Nevada cited the company for two accidents over the past two years, including one in February 2010, which wounded a person in Washoe County.

Inspection in January, authorities found tire on a trailer so bald they consider the platform imminent danger to public safety.

Meanwhile, investigators National Transportation Safety Board returned to the tangled wreckage Sunday to search for clues and more victims. But they warned that the number of missing was "spongy" and does not necessarily mean that the number of deaths will increase.

About two dozen were reported missing after the collision spirited about 70 km from Reno. But the missing passengers were not necessarily dead, National Transportation Safety Board Member Earl Weener said.

In a Saturday night news conference, Weener said 28 people in the manifest of 210-person of the train had not been found. He does not know how many of these 210 actually to edge of the train from Chicago to California and how can have in cases before the crash, said Weener.

He said "that makes it more sponge,".

The truck driver and conductor of the train were among the dead, according to officials of the Amtrak and Churchill County Sheriff's Office. The names of most of the dead were retained pending notification of their parents.

The conductor was Laurette Lee, 68, of South Lake Tahoe, California, reported the Associated Press. The San Jose Mercury News reported that she came from a family of railway, until his great-grandfather.

Investigators have said that they did not expect to find a cause of the accident soon. Another point of press was scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday.

The truck was leading a convoy of three trucks of Battle Mountain, trucking company, said Weener. The two trailing drivers said investigators saw the train coming or why the lead pilot was not stopped.

He has slammed finally its brakes, leaving a trace of skid 320 feet North American 95, said Weener. If the truck had been travelling at 70 mph speed limit, he would have had as much as 465 feet to stop.

Truck cab became incorporated into a car and was transported to about half a mile down the track, investigators said.

The train engineer saw the truck and the brake but could not avoid the collision. He saw the collision in his rearview mirror, he told investigators.

The accident occurred on Friday at 11: 20 in the empty desert east of Reno, where Highway 95 passes through a series of tracks of the Union Pacific and about three kilometres south of Interstate 80. Visibility was excellent, said Weener.

The train was headed West in Emeryville, California. The truck struck the train on the side.

It is not clear when the fire broke out which has sunk at least two cars of the train, said Weener.

A phone call to John Davies Trucking did not return late Saturday night.

Amtrak has had 36 accidents at crossings from January to March this year, killing 11 people, according to the Office of the Federal Administration of railway safety. In the period of five years ending in 2010, the passenger-train service is involved in the accident that took the life of the 309 people, 62 per year on average.

Emergency teams have not begun to removing bodies from the wreck severely burned the train until about 1 pm on Saturday. Among their concerns was the possibility that the train could topple on rescuers.

Brisk, dusty deserts winds whipped crews as they slowly from the dead.

Jack Dolan, Ralph Vartabedian and Stephen Caesar staff writers contributed to this report.