Mayor Seeks to Slow Trains Through Moorpark

In an attempt to cut the number of accidents and deaths, Moorpark’s mayor is urging railroad officials to consider reducing the top speed of passenger trains rumbling through his town.

Patrick Hunter, in a letter to Metrolink’s chief executive, said the current maximum speed of 70 mph through one of Ventura County’s fastest-growing cities is too dangerous and should be reviewed.

The request came less than a week after an 18-year-old Moorpark College student was seriously injured by a northbound Amtrak train. That marked the fourth accident this year in Moorpark in which a train hit a vehicle or pedestrian.

“I’m not assigning blame, I’m just asking the question: Is 70 mph an appropriate speed limit for densely populated urban environments like the city of Moorpark?” Hunter said Monday, adding that this year’s accidents came after two years with no train-roadway mishaps in the city.

“When you have four train accidents in a short amount of time in such a short distance, it causes you to act in an attempt to enhance public safety,” Hunter said.

Metrolink Chief Executive David Solow “will be happy to meet with Mayor Hunter to discuss all aspects of rail safety,” said agency spokeswoman Sharon Gavin. “Safety is our top priority, as it has always been.”

In the five Southern California counties it serves, Metrolink had 17 accidents from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30; seven of the eight fatalities involved a train-vehicle collision. That is up from five fatalities among 20 accidents in all of 2002, according to Gavin. Those statistics exclude suicides.

Less than a month ago, a 64-year-old electrician was killed by a Metrolink train in eastern Moorpark when the pickup he was driving was hit head-on by a sport utility vehicle and stalled on the tracks.

The maximum speed for trains is set by the Federal Railroad Administration and is based on engineering specifications for individual sections of track. Generally, passenger trains are allowed to travel faster than those hauling freight, and Metrolink trains may travel up to 90 mph in some parts of Orange County, Gavin said.

A train traveling at 70 mph would need at least a third of a mile to stop. If the speed of an eight-car Metrolink train was just 9 mph more, the stopping distance would increase to 6,000 feet, or 1 1/8 mile, Gavin said.

Hunter said he realizes that lowering train speed will not be enough to eliminate collisions. Along with discussing speed limits, the mayor -- a Los Angeles County sheriff’s lieutenant -- said he wants to add additional eye-level warning signs at the city’s five gated rail crossings and consider paying a motorcycle patrol officer overtime to provide additional enforcement.

“I’m trying do what I can to prevent a recurrence” of fatalities, Hunter said.

The industry sponsors a Web site, operationlifesaver.com, that provides safety tips for motorists and reminds pedestrians to be cautious at rail crossings.

“If everyone would just take that extra measure of safety, we could eliminate many of these accidents,” said Caltrans spokeswoman Jeanne Bonfilio.

Reducing train speed, however, will not ensure fewer deaths or injuries, officials said. Because Metrolink trains weigh about 450 tons, a collision at even 20 mph would still demolish a vehicle, Gavin said, comparing the destruction to a soda can being run over by an automobile.

Besides, she added, when trains travel slower there will always be impatient -- or foolhardy -- motorists who will use the opportunity to attempt to race a locomotive to a crossing.