At approximately 2: 53 AM, Amtrak's Sunset Limited train, powered by three locomotives, and en route from Los Angeles, California to Miami, Florida with 220 passengers and crew aboard, crossed the Bayou Canot bridge at high speed and derailed at a kink in the track caused by a barge captain who rammed the bridge by making a wrong turn in the waterway, and failed to report the accident.

At approximately 2: 53 AM, Amtrak's Sunset Limited train, powered by three locomotives ( one GE Genesis P40DC number 819 in the front, and two EMD F40PHs, numbers 262 and 312 ) en route from Los Angeles, California to Miami, Florida with 220 passengers and crew aboard, crossed the bridge at a high speed and derailed at the kink.

0.004 seconds.