Authorities have identified the driver killed in Wednesday’s train and tanker truck collision south of Guadalupe as Santiago Saucedo Sr., 58, of Santa Maria.
The crash happened just before 4:15 p.m. on October 1, when Saucedo turned onto a dirt road leading into an agricultural field near Highway 1 and Brown Road. An Amtrak train traveling northbound struck the right side of his truck, killing Saucedo and rupturing its load of 3,500 gallons of diesel fuel.
The collision forced the tanker to overturn, spilling fuel across the roadway, tracks, and into nearby agricultural fields.
Highway 1 was closed from Brown Road to Highway 166 until early Thursday morning, then closed again later in the day as cleanup continued. Amtrak travelers are being urged to check schedules for delays or cancellations as service through the area remains disrupted.
Isaac Santoy, a commuter who drives the road daily, said he was stopped nearby when he heard the train’s brakes screeching.
“There are a lot of entrances that go into the fields that do not have barriers to let you know that the train is coming,” he said. “And until it comes around that corner, it cannot see that intersection.”
Santoy says he also witnessed the collision.
“The train hit the truck pretty hard, but not full speed. Like I said, the train had applied its brakes like pretty far back, but it wasn’t enough to stop it in time and it still demolished that truck,” he recalled.
Jorge Luna Granados, a resident of Guadalupe, said the accident underscores his fears for families who walk and work near the tracks.
“There’s a lot of traffic in that area of the train tracks, both community traffic and trucks, and I think there should be more control there, like a traffic light, so that we can do things safely,” he said.
According to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), there were more than 2,261 highway-rail grade crossing collisions nationwide in 2024, resulting in 262 deaths and 763 injuries. California ranked second in the nation for such incidents, recording 185 collisions, with 49 deaths and 49 injuries.
Multiple agencies are still working at the site on cleanup and investigation.
KSBY News reached out to Amtrak for comment and other local agencies to find out if there had been any prior collisions at this crossing or plans to make any changes, but no one was available for comment.
