Criminal Intent Ruled Out in Westminster Derailment : Investigation: No evidence of vandalism is found in an accident involving boxcars carrying live munitions. But what did cause the derailment remains unclear.

Criminal intent has been ruled out as the cause of last week’s train derailment of two boxcars carrying thousands of rounds of live artillery shells from the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, authorities said Wednesday.

Initial reports attributed the accident to vandals, but a criminal investigation by Southern Pacific Railroad police found no evidence that anyone intentionally threw switches or tried to derail the cars when they jumped the tracks in Westminster on Sept. 25, a police spokesman said.

“We have no evidence that would indicate vandalism,” said Southern Pacific Railroad police Capt. Jim Edgar. “The investigation has not been concluded, so we don’t know exactly what did cause (the derailment). . . . We could very well have a slight maintenance problem.”

However, Bill Currier, an operational superintendent with the railroad, said he disagrees, if only because of semantics. Currier believes there are no maintenance problems with the rail where the train jumped the tracks. And, he added, “somebody had been playing with that switch that day,” although he doubts “they were trying to derail the train.”

Two locomotives and two boxcars carrying 103,000 rounds of anti-missile shells and 2,000 live 38-caliber artillery shells jumped the tracks near Hoover Street south of Westminster Avenue.

The derailment caused no injuries, although fire officials first at the scene nearly evacuated thousands of people because they couldn’t decode Naval documents describing the contents of the train cars. Diesel fuel spilled from the train, but there was no fire.

Railroad officials last week said they suspected vandals had tampered with a railway switch that allows trains to switch tracks because, while it appeared to be positioned correctly, it was not. They also said the switch’s lock was missing.

What remains unclear is how that happened. So as a preventive measure, new locks with tamper-resistant features are being installed at “thousands” of switches along Southern Pacific’s railroad tracks, Edgar said.

The new locks must be opened by key, which cannot be removed without relocking the device, Currier said. They are being installed in what the railroad calls “dark territory”--areas of track with no signal system governing train movement.

While Currier dismissed the possibility of inadequate maintenance, Edgar said his investigation had found that “there was some indication that the very tip of the rail that moves (the train from one track to another) was bent, enhancing the possibility these wheels could go between the rail and the switch point.”

The investigation into what did trigger the accident may now be resumed by the railroad’s operations staff, Edgars said. Currier said he will have to receive Edgar’s findings before proceeding with the case.