Amtrak Engineer Removed From Duty

Amtrak passengers riding the train north from Los Angeles to Ventura County had to finish their trip by bus Sunday when authorities yanked the train’s engineer off duty for failing to stop at a signal.

A seven-car train on Amtrak’s popular San Diegan line came to a sudden halt 4 1/2 miles southeast of Moorpark after authorities radioed the engineer to stop immediately, Amtrak spokeswoman Dawn Soper said Monday.

The unidentified engineer had apparently overrun a red signal light on the track between Simi Valley and Moorpark--where all trains, freight and passenger, are supposed to stop.

Under federal transportation rules, any crew committing such a violation is promptly taken off duty, tested for drug and alcohol use and kept from operating another train until the incident is investigated, Soper said.

“A rules violation is a serious violation,” she said. “There’s a lot of rail traffic. . . . You can’t have everyone just running amok.”

Although an investigation of the incident is still under way, Soper said Amtrak officials believe none of the crew was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

“It appears that it was misjudgment of distance,” she said.

The train, which runs between San Diego and Santa Barbara, had 168 passengers when it left Los Angeles that afternoon, but some may have boarded or disembarked at stops between Los Angeles and Moorpark.

Passengers were stuck on the stalled train for about 30 minutes outside Moorpark, until a train supervisor arrived.

The train then pulled into the Moorpark station where passengers waited at least another 40 minutes for buses to arrive from Los Angeles.

Chartered by Amtrak, the buses dropped passengers at their destinations--railroad stations in Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara. But they were at least 2 1/2 hours later than scheduled.