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The Associated Press SUNOL Acommutertrain struck a tree and derailed in storm-soaked Northern California, plunging its lead car into a rain-swol- len creek and sending pas- sengers scrambling in the dark to get out of the par- tially submerged car. Nine people were in- jured, four seriously, the Alameda County Fire De- partment said. A mudslide most likely swept the tree onto the Al- tamont Corridor Express (ACE) train tracks Mon- day evening, Union Pa- cific spokesman Francisco J. Castillo said. The train was travel- ing 35 mph in the 40 mph zone, said Steve Walker, an Altamont Corridor spokesman. The first car was carrying six passen- gers and one crew member when it fell into Alameda Creek, Walker said. Rescuers battled the creek's fast-moving cur- rents Monday night to pull riders to safety, Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said. "It was dark, wet. It was raining. It was very cha- otic," Kelly said. "This is an absolute miracle that no one was killed, no pas- sengers or first respond- ers." The San Francisco Bay Area has been in- undated with thunder- storms in recent days that have swamped roadways and creeks. On Monday, some San Francisco Bay Area roads were under more than a foot of wa- ter. Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties saw about 11 inches of rain during the weekend. The ACE No. 10 com- muter train was traveling from San Jose to Stock- ton when the first two cars went off the tracks in Su- nol, a rural area of Alam- eda County about 45 miles east of San Francisco. One toppled over, while the other remained upright. Passengers described a harrowing scene. Rad Akhter said he was in the front car that fell into Alameda Creek and saw a woman lying in mud just under a train car hanging off the tracks. "We were all just pan- icking," Akhter, who waited wrapped in a blan- ket for a ride home, told San Jose television station KNTV. Passenger Russell Blackman told KGO-TV he was in the second car, which stopped near the creek. "Our car went off the track and stopped right at the edge, which was a blessing," Blackman said. "I was thrown out of my seat. I hurt my shoulder, but I'm not going to com- plain." Images posted on Twit- ter by Alameda County Fire Department showed that car on its side about half-submerged in the creek. Passengers were evacu- ated and checked by para- medics. The uninjured rid- ers were taken to the Al- ameda County Fair in Pleasanton, the depart- ment said. Altamont Corridor Ex- press said it sent buses to take passengers to their destinations. The ACE No. 10 train, which travels from Sili- con Valley to central Cal- ifornia, stopping in eight cities along the way, was carrying 214 passengers, officials said. ACE has had only one other derailment in the past decade. All ACE trains traveling from Silicon Valley to the Central Valley were can- celed on Tuesday. ALAMEDA COUNTY 9 hurt as train derails, car plunges into California creek ANDACHU—SANJOSEMERCURYNEWS A work crew uses a crane Tuesday to li one end of an Altamont Corridor Express commuter train back onto the track a er the train derailed Monday evening near Alameda Creek along Niles Canyon Road, in Sunol. By Juliet Williams The Associated Press SACRAMENTO A judge has removed a major hurdle to California's high-speed rail system, ruling that the $64 billion system does not vi- olate promises made to the voters who approved it and that planning and financing can proceed. The ruling announced Tuesday came in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for Kings County and a group of land- owners who claim the state's projections on ridership, construction and operating figures are not reliable. They asked the judge to block the state from spend- ing money on the project. However, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny said the 2008 ballot initiative specified only that the state could issue bonds to con- struct a high-speed rail sys- tem and did not prevent modifications to the plan voters were given. He agreed with the plain- tiffs that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has not proven the rail sys- temwillbefinanciallyviable or can meet the travel times voters were promised but said the system continues to evolve so it is premature for the court to intervene. "The authority may be able to accomplish these ob- jectives at some point in the future. This project is an on- going, dynamic, changing project," Kenny wrote. Voters have approved $10 billion in bonds for what would be the nation's first high-speed rail line, and California has secured an- other $3.2 billion in federal matching funds. In addi- tion, the project will receive money each year from the state's greenhouse gas emis- sion fund. The amount will total $500 million this year. That funding leaves it far short of its $64 billion price tag, and state lawmakers and the Republican-con- trolledCongresshavebalked at providing more money. Still, backers believe seg- ments of the project can be operating within the next decade. DanRichard,chairmanof the board that oversees the rail authority, expressed re- lief at the judge's ruling. He said "a great myth" has de- veloped that the system be- ingbuiltis differentthanthe one voters approved. "It's totally and com- pletely false," Richard said at a board meeting Tuesday. "What we are building is ex- actly what the public voted for: a fully electric, 200-plus mile-per-hour train that can operate without a subsidy that is designed to operate in 2 hours and 40 minutes between our great cities of Los Angeles and San Fran- cisco." Plaintiffs argued that plans for the bullet train have strayed far from the promises made to voters, particularly on trip times, ridership and maintenance costs. Plaintiffs' attorney Stuart Flashman said his clients would be evaluating their next steps. "Though the high-speed rail authority may have won this round, the ruling ... pro- vides ominous signs about the authority's future use of bond funds," Flashman said in an email. Votersweretoldthetrains would whisk travelers from San Francisco to Los Ange- les in 2 hours and 40 min- utes, and the system would operate without a govern- mentsubsidy.Opponentssay neitherispossibleundercur- rent plans. It was also pitched as a stand-alone system that would not have to share tracks with slower com- muter rail lines. Since then, plans have changed repeatedly as state officials made political com- promises, including the de- cision to share tracks with commuter trains in some sections. Gov.JerryBrown'sadmin- istration lowered the cost es- timate to $64 billion in Feb- ruary as part of a new pro- posed business plan that upended plans for the rail line. The change, which still requires board approval, would send tracks from the Central Valley north to the San Francisco Bay Area in- stead of south as planned since 2012. 2008 BALLOT INITIATIVE Judge lets planning, funding proceed for state bullet train 741 Main Street, Suite #2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.redbluffcoldwellbanker.com See All Tehama County Listings at IfyouareConsidering Selling Your Home, Now is the Time! PropertyisSelling and Listings are in Short Supply! CallTehamaCountiesLargest Real Estate Office and let our Knowledgeable and Professional Realtors assist you Today! WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B