Residents Say Concerns Over Trains Addressed : Moorpark: Metrolink operator makes changes that lessen the impact of morning noise and smoke from a nearby rail yard.

Moorpark residents who had complained about noise and smoke coming from a Metrolink rail yard near their homes said this week that rail officials had addressed their most serious concerns.

“Things are pretty good now. The trains come in and they stop their engines right away,” Daniel Garcia said Friday. “I don’t know what time they start, but they didn’t even wake me up this morning.”

In an appearance before the Moorpark City Council last week, Garcia complained bitterly about trains running long after their arrival each night, billowing smoke into the air unnecessarily and then starting their loud diesel engines at 3 each morning.

After watching Garcia walk out of the meeting in tears, council members vowed to put new pressure on the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, which operates Metrolink, to lessen the impact of its layover facility or to take it elsewhere.

Rail investigators visited the area late last week and again this week and have made a series of changes to make the overnight storage yard more resident-friendly, said Bill Lydon, director of equipment for the rail authority.

Among the changes:

* Engines and air conditioners are now shut down immediately upon arrival at the station. Residents had complained that engines were allowed to run for up to an hour after arrival and Lydon himself said past policy was to leave the air conditioners on all night.

* The first train to arrive each night is being routed to the track that runs parallel to the closest residential area, so it serves as a sound wall for other incoming trains. That train is also the last to leave each morning, so it blocks the sound while others depart.

* The first engine is being turned on about 4:15 each morning--residents had complained of ignition between 3 and 3:30 a.m.

“We don’t want to negatively impact the environments that we operate in,” Lydon said. “We’ll do everything we can to reduce the noise levels.”

But the new policies did not come fast enough to keep Garcia in the home he has lived for 37 years.

The Cornett Avenue resident said he and his wife were already mulling a move to Lancaster to be closer to their son when the noise and smoke at the Metrolink yard convinced them that they should move. Ironically, a satisfactory solution comes after the couple agreed to sell.

“The only thing I feel, really, is that if these people had helped us sooner, I could have avoided a lot of painful aches in my body,” Garcia said. “I feel a lot better now. I’ve been getting my sleep and the irritation in my nose and throat is much better.”

Henry Bravo, who has lived in the same McFadden Avenue residence since 1952, was not as quick to embrace the new policies as a panacea for the inconveniences of living near the rail yard.

“I think we ought to wait a little longer and see if they do continue to operate that way,” Bravo said. “It is improving, but I don’t think we ought to say too much until about 30 days or so, because if something happens and it gets bad again and we complain, people will be like, ‘You told us everything was OK.’ ”