SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — BNSF Railway has resumed freight operations through the location of the latest landslide on Southern California’s Surf Line, which remains closed to passenger traffic following a Jan. 24 incident near the San Clemente Pier.
The Orange County Register reports BNSF began freight movements with a 10-mph speed restriction between 9 p.m. Monday and 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, saying in a statement that track inspections will precede each freight movement. “Along with the continued movement of the hillside,” the statement said, “a major factor of why freight trains are allowed to pass San Clemente at night and passenger trains are not allowed during the day is the constricted right-of-way and limited space for construction material and personnel.
The area has been tarped and graded in anticipation of more rainfall; current forecasets call for rain ranging from showers to downpours during seven of the eight days beginning Thursday, Feb. 1.Metrolink spokesman Scott Johnson told the Register in a Tuesday email that “the project team is observing a decrease in hillside movement” above the right-of-way at the site of last week’s slide.
Metrolink trains have been halting at Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo on weekdays and San Juan Capistrano on weekends since the latest slide, while Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner is currently running a limited schedule through at least Feb. 2 [see “Officials unsure when rail service … will resume,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 27, 2024].
