TriMet workers used hydraulic jacks back in July 1999 to re-align a MAX train that derailed on Couch Street.

Shuttle buses continued to run between Lloyd Center and the Gateway Transit Center late Monday night after a westbound train's rear set of wheels left the tracks as it departed the Northeast 82nd Avenue station.

Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman, said

the second wheel set of the train lifted off the tracks at 2:45 p.m.

Transit crews finally managed to get the wheels back on the rails by about 9:15 p.m.

TriMet hoped that regular transit service would return by about 10:15 p.m., a spokeswoman said Monday night. During the height the agency deployed 29 shuttle buses to get MAX riders around the disruption.

There were no reported injuries and all of the riders were transported back to the station platform. A faulty track brake bracket was identified as the cause of the incident.

"It's extremely rare to have something like this happen,"

said Fetsch.

"Fortunately, the train was going at a low speed."



What's next after a MAX train derails?

According to The Oregonian archives, it happened on July 10, 1999 when a train was switching from one track to another at Northwest First Avenue and Couch Street. The derailment shut down the line for 90 minutes.

TriMet workers then used a center jack and two horizontal jacks to pick up the train and move it sideways into alignment.

In January 1988, as a westbound train was approaching the Old Town-Chinatown station from the Steel Bridge, when a truck pulled in front of the train. As the train hit the truck, the forward motion of the truck pulled the train's front wheels off the track and onto the pavement.

The crew was able to backup the 44-ton train, dragging its wheels back on track. Two people suffered minor injuries in the collision.

The only previous derailment before the January 1988 derailment occurred in 1986 before MAX trains began carrying passengers.

Oregonian reporter Shane Dixon Kavanaugh contributed to this story.