MOORPARK/SIMI VALLEY : Rail Crossing Crackdown Mounted

State officials and local police set out Thursday to warn or issue tickets to motorists who disregard railroad crossing laws in Simi Valley and Moorpark, but the crackdown yielded few violators.

In a program called “Trooper on the Train,” the California Public Utilities Commission placed Simi Valley police and Ventura County sheriff’s deputies aboard a Metrolink train and at busy rail crossings. The officers watched for motorists who illegally stopped on the tracks or drove around rail crossing arms.

In Simi Valley, James McInerney, a state transportation supervisor, said he saw six violators. But Simi Valley police did not witness the incidents or were not in a position to issue citations or warnings.

Simi Valley Police Lt. Mark Layhew, a traffic unit supervisor, said the department has issued 38 rail-crossing citations since 1987. Because local drivers are well acquainted with the rail crossings at key intersections throughout the city, violations are rare, he said.

“I think that most of them are aware of the law and conscious of the hazards,” Layhew said.

In Moorpark, sheriff’s deputies on Thursday issued warnings to five drivers who sped across the tracks while the red lights were flashing and the crossing arms were descending. One driver received a citation for stopping on the tracks, while another received a warning for that offense.

“It’s a very good program,” said Deputy George Fitzgerald, who handles traffic enforcement in Moorpark. “The idea is to educate the public about the hazards of trying to race a train across the tracks.’

State officials said about 400 collisions between trains and other vehicles occur in California each year. The issue has received wide attention after several recent fatal collisions involving Amtrak and Metrolink trains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.