SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — Regular Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink commuter rail service through San Clemente is slated to resume Monday, March 25, after two months of disruptions because of the latest in a series of landslides along the Surf Line in the South Orange County community.
The Orange County Transportation Authority announced today (Tuesday, March 19) that work on the catchment wall at the latest slide site will wrap up this week — ahead of the original schedule, thanks to cooperation between the state of California and the various transportation authorities involved.
Schedules for the full resumption of service will be available at the Pacific Surfliner website and the Metrolink website.
The latest issues began Jan. 24 when a slide brought down a bridge that forms part of the Mariposa Trail, above the tracks at Mariposa Point [see “Slide issues again halt Surfliner, Metrolink service …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 25, 2024]. That slide was less than a quarter-mile from the site of a slide below the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, the most recent in a series of trouble spots in the vicinity of the San Clemente Pier that allowed just 41 days of normal operations between Sept. 30, 2022 and July 16, 2023.
Limited Surfliner service had resumed on March 6, but the tracks had remained closed most of the day to allow construction work on the wall to continue.
The frequent issues have led the OCTA to launch a Coastal Rail Resiliency Study, which seeks to address ways to protect the rail line for the next 10 to 30 years. That study, which began in November, has public listening sessions upcoming; more information is available at the study website.
Until the next landslide.
By the time they get the money, permits and engineering done for the proposed tunnel, the local opposition will have been dead for 25 years. So I reckon they should start indoctrinating the next generation now, so that when construction starts, everyone will agree its the only way.