LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Metrolink Officials Renew Warning to Stay Off Tracks

In response to five fatal accidents since the commuter rail service began last October, Metrolink officials this week repeated longstanding warnings to Southern Californians unaccustomed to the high-speed trains to stay away from the tracks.

“While Metrolink trains are a convenience, they are a force to be respected,” Metrolink Vice Chairman Dana Reed said at the Sun Valley intersection where a man sitting on the tracks was hit by a train and killed this month.

Unlike the East Coast, where commuter trains are commonplace, regular passenger rail service is relatively new to many Southern Californians, rail officials said.

To increase awareness, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies are posted at intersections along all three Metrolink routes--connecting Union Station with Pomona, Santa Clarita and Moorpark--to look for motorists and pedestrians trying to beat the trains. Schools along the routes are teaching children rail safety lessons.

Since Metrolink service began, deputies have made 175 arrests for trespassing on the tracks and issued about 300 citations to motorists trying to sneak around crossing guards, Sgt. Marc Klugman said.