ORANGE, Calif. — Citing “ongoing threats” to service on the Surf Line route used by Amtrak, Metrolink, and BNSF Railway, the Orange County Transportation Authority on Monday (March 31, 2025) submitted an emergency permit request to the California Coastal Commission for stabilization work above the rail line in San Clemente, Calif.
The OCTA says the request will allow work to address four areas most vulnerable to failure. The agency expects to play approximately 540,000 cubic yards of sand, and repair and replace existing riprap. Also, a series of landslides near Mariposa Point mean debris and mud are nearing the top of a 12-foot-high temporary catchment wall built a year ago after a slide shut down the rail line. [See “Full passenger service through San Clemente …,” Trains News Wire, March 19, 2024].
Slide issues have plagued the rail line since fall 2022, when a slide below the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens began a series of disruptions that allowed just 41 days of normal operations between Sept. 30, 2022, and July 16, 2023. More problems occurred beginning in January 2024.
The OCTA, owner of the rail line along the Orange County coast, has coordinated with the Coastal Commission and California State Transportation Agency to address the issues since an initial slide in 2021.
“We appreciate the State agencies’ understanding that OCTA needs to take emergency action to help ensure the ongoing safe operation of the rail line and prevent additional disruptions of service and damage to critical rail infrastructure,” OCTA Chair Doug Chaffee said in a press release.
The OCTA board is expected to act at its April 14 meeting to allow its CEO to enter into emergency contracting agreements to expedite the four priority stabilization projects.
It appears that If another major rain storm hits the area the line will get closed by soil and debris. At least now is “dry” season hopefully.
Why is now a problem? What were AT&SF’s solutions? Sounds like somebody’s ignoring the concept of what works.