Rail Strike Surprises Passengers, Packers : Transit: A machinists’ union walks out after Amtrak workers had agreed to delay a labor action. An economic ‘ripple effect’ is feared in the county.

Sheri Inloes had her bags packed and her ticket in hand.

The only thing missing was the train.

“This really irks my noodle,” said Sheri, 16, as she read the notice taped to the Amtrak ticket window at the Oxnard Transportation Center.

The notice advised would-be passengers of a rail strike that had effectively shut down passenger and freight train service nationwide.

“I can’t believe it,” said Sheri, a resident of Portland, Ore., who had been visiting her father in Camarillo. “Now I can’t go back.”

Sheri was one of many Ventura County rail passengers caught off guard by the strike Wednesday. Most newspapers had reported that the strike had been postponed for 48 hours.

Among the disappointed travelers were Norman and Siony Francisco of Sweden, who have been visiting relatives in Oxnard. The two said they had been planning to take their two children--Norman Jr., 6, and Nochel, 8--on a train trip to New York.

“It’s too bad,” Norman Francisco said. “We could take a plane. But we would have enjoyed it more if we could take the train. You can really see the country on the train.”

Although Amtrak workers had agreed to postpone the threatened strike, service was canceled Wednesday because of a walkout by the machinists’ union. The union began its strike Tuesday night against CSX, a major East Coast freight operator.

Amtrak was forced to cancel service because the majority of the 25,000 miles of tracks its trains run on are operated by freight companies affected by the strike, said Patricia Kelly, an Amtrak spokeswoman in Washington.

“We’re heavily dependent on the freight railroads for use of their tracks,” Kelly said. “So we can’t operate until this is settled.”

Ventura County agricultural officials said that although most of the region’s farms and packinghouses use trucks to transport their goods, the rail strike could have a major impact on their operations.

“There already is a shortage of truck transportation, and the competition for truck transportation will just increase,” said Rex Laird, executive director of the Ventura County Farm Bureau. “This could interrupt shipment of product.”

Laurence Stearn, director of transportation for Sunkist Growers Inc., which operates 16 packinghouses in Ventura County, said 25% of his company’s product in the region is moved by rail.

“We’re suffering,” Stearn said. “There’s only a limited number of refrigerated trucks available . . . and they are now going to the highest bidder.”

He said that even if Sunkist was able to get all the trucks it needs, some buyers may decide that transportation costs are too high and cancel their shipments.

“That’s a significant problem,” Stearn said. “A lost order in the produce business is not something you replace later on.”

Although he doesn’t expect the strike to last long, Stearn said that if it runs more than five days, it could cost Sunkist growers in California and Arizona as much as $20 million. He said Ventura County growers alone could lose as much as $8 million, triggering layoffs of packing plant workers and field crews.

“It will have a ripple effect on the local economy,” Stearn said. “It’s like throwing a big rock into a pond.”

Meanwhile, in Simi Valley, Pat and Mo Bewley were trying to figure out how to spend the day with grandchildren Jenny, 14, Heather, 11, and Nathan, 10.

“We were going to take the train to Santa Barbara,” said Pat Bewley, who only learned of the rail strike when she and her family arrived at Amtrak’s Simi Valley station. “I guess we should have called first.”

Nathan stood nearby, shaking his head.

“It was going to be his first time on a train,” Bewley said.

Not all the news was bad for Amtrak passengers Wednesday.

After checking with the carrier, Sheri Inloes discovered that United Airlines, Delta Airlines, USAir and Greyhound were honoring Amtrak tickets with reduced fares. Sheri nabbed a ticket on a 4:55 p.m. Delta flight out of Los Angeles International Airport.

To her surprise, the airline ticket was $12 cheaper than the $157 train ticket, which Amtrak will refund. RELATED STORIES: A1,A24