SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Work began Monday on a temporary restraining wall to be built at the site of a landslide that has halted passenger rail service through south Orange County since June 5.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports heavy equipment was being staged at the base of the slope below San Clemente’s Casa Romantica Cultural Center for the start of work on the wall to protect the Surf Line from further slide debris. Current plans call for a wall up to 300 feet long and 15 feet high, although the dimensions could change during design and construction.
Metrolink’s board of directors approved a contract last week with Condon-Johnson & Associates to design and build the wall. Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Union-Tribune in an email that there was not yet a projection for when rail service could resume, but “a better idea of the timeline” would likely come as the contractor went to work this week and next.
The California Transportation Commission is providing $3 million toward a project expected to cost up to $6 million. The Orange County Transportation Authority will provide the rest of the funding.
Service by Metrolink and Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner has been disrupted for most of the last nine months because of unstable hillsides at two different locations in San Clemente. Since the first incident began Sept. 30, 2022, about 2 miles south of the Casa Romantic location, the Surfliners have been able to offer uninterrupted service between Los Angeles and San Diego for just 41 days, including 22 days when trains operated only on Saturdays and Sundays. The disruptions have seen ridership slide from about 75% to 40% of pre-pandemic levels, leading to service reductions [see “Slide disruptions lead to cuts in Surfliner service,” Trains News Wire, June 10, 2023].
Metrolink, meanwhile, has been unable to serve Oceanside, Calif.., and its southernmost Orange County stations for most of the same period.
That should be “a temporary RETAINING wall.”