Commuter Train Gets Stuck Switching Tracks in Moorpark

Rail traffic through Moorpark was blocked late Tuesday when a Metrolink commuter train got stuck switching between two tracks and partly derailed, officials said.

There were no injuries in the 7:45 p.m. incident on the tracks just south of Los Angeles Avenue and east of Spring Road, Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Sparks said.

“Part of the train went onto the wrong section of the track, and now they’re having difficulty getting it back off,” Sparks said.

Moorpark Mayor Paul Lawrason, who went to the scene of the incident, said that at least two wheels of the train engine were off the tracks. He said repair workers were planning to bring in cranes to lift the engine and place it back on the tracks.

Lawrason said he was told that the 18 passengers on the train at the time of the incident were not injured and walked a short distance to the station.

Because the train was stuck blocking both the primary and secondary rails through the city, no train traffic was able to get through, Sparks said. Lawrason said that, at 10 p.m., one freight train was already sitting in the city’s west end waiting for the tracks to clear.

It was not known whether the derailed train could be placed back on the tracks in time for this morning’s Metrolink service, Lawrason said. He said repair workers estimated it would take four to six hours to have the tracks ready again after the cranes arrived.

Abdul Barakat, manager of Barakat’s Market at 411 High St., said work was being done on the switch that caused the problem earlier in the day.