SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — BNSF freight traffic past the site of the latest landside in San Clemente has been halted by additional slide activity, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Tuesday night freight movement was suspended after the slope moved another 1.5 to 3 feet in a 24-hour period through Tuesday afternoon, Scott Johnson, Metrolink director of communications, told the newspaper. Debris was nearing the Surf Line right-of-way and could reach the track in a few hours, he said.
Sensors and cameras were installed in the area on Sunday and have shown increasing hillside movement as heavy rains moved through the area. Inspections today will assess the latest movement and determine whether clearing the new debris might bring down more of the hillside.
Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink traffic has been halted since a Jan. 24 slide brought down part of a pedestrian bridge north of the San Clemente Pier, but freight traffic has been allowed through at 10 mph between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. on some nights based on daily assessments of the slide.
Officials from the Orange County Transportation Authority and Metrolink said last week they plan to build a wall to protect the tracks, after a state emergency declaration freed $10 million in funding [see “Officials announce plans …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 4, 2024].
California has been sliding into the ocean for as long as I remember. Which is a long time.
The Surf Line isn’t some backwoods logging spur that no one sees. It’s a vital artery right out there in the view of thousands of civil engineers, geotech specialists, etc. Perhaps some of the billions poured into CalHSR for no gain whatsoever, could have been spent on a rebuild of this railroad.
As for homes sliding down the cliff, as I posted a day or two back, this was known in the 1960’s.
Something about this isn’t right. My suspicion is that Santa Fe built the railroad correctly, but the abutting (uphill) residential or commercial development shouldn’t have happened.
This is no surprise! The only surprise is only one new location of a slide moving up to 3 feet in 23 hours. Which slope moved that 3 feet? News wire is not clear. Pictures of other homes hanging is not comforting either.