LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A commuter train in southern California derailed early Tuesday after plowing into a truck on the tracks, injuring at least 30 people, US media reports said.

The accident occurred near the city of Oxnard, about 120 kilometres from Los Angeles, according to news reports.

A local fire official told CNN that authorities have detained the driver of the truck, who fled the accident scene.

Television images showed that several train cars had careened off the track, and the truck engulfed in flames.

Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told media that the the collision derailed three of the passenger train's cars. Firefighters were at the scene, and injured passengers were being treated.

The commuter train was packed with morning rush hour passengers heading to Los Angeles.

In 2008, a Metrolink train that travelling the same route killed 25 people and injured 135.