SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. — The latest resumption of Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink service through south Orange County lasted barely a week.
Passenger traffic through San Clemente was halted Monday morning after new debris was found along the rail right-of-way below the site of an earlier landside adjacent to the Casa Romantica Cultural Center, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
A spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority told the newspaper that geotechnical engineers were assessing the situation and that no timeline had been established for resuming rail operations.
The Surfliner website advises several trains are cancelled as of today (June 5), with others operating over only part of their usual routes. A bus bridge is again being operated between Oceanside and Irvine, Calif. A more complete slate of cancellations and operations involving a bus bridge takes effect on Tuesday, June 6. Additional updates will be available at the Surfliner Twitter feed.
Metrolink service, which normally operates to Oceanside, has been suspended south of Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo. Those who used the route prior to today’s suspension will receive Uber vouchers of up to $50 to reach their final destination. More information is available at the Metrolink service update page and on Twitter feeds for Orange County and Inland Empire-Orange County service.
Surfliner and Metrolink service through San Clemente had resumed May 27, a month after being halted because of the slide at Casa Romantica [see “Surfliner, Metrolink service through San Clemente to resume …,” Trains News Wire, May 26, 2023]. That outage had come barely two weeks after trains had begun running through the area after an almost six-month outage because of a slide issue at another location in San Clemente.
If the debris is NOT on the track and alongside of it, how about we use common sense and just not stop the trains running…that is beyond stupid. The tracks are not being blocked by the current landslide as it is. Temporarily install slide fences for detection if the land does slide onto the tracks, that is the fastest solution to getting service back up and running, but it’s the government(state, federal all the same) COMMON SENSE does not exist.
“IF” it has to be moved inland, why not use the I-5 corridor?
Let’s wait for the Geotechnical assessment. Excuse me I keep forgetting that America is on an anti science, engineering, math thing.
The cost the move the line would be prohibitive, plus this is California where nothing gets done without years of litigation, add to that, the fact that nothing gets done in America with out a trip to the SCOTUS.
Where do you move it inland to? Everything inland is already developed.
Moving the line inland will take billions of $$ and maybe 10-15 years of endless environmental studies, litigation, wailing and moaning by San Clemente residents about how a tunnel 100 ft in the ground will “ruin” their lives….the possible length of the tunnel will likely trigger a requirement for electrification (because residents will freak out at the thought of ventilation of the tunnel), and do you electrify the tunnel only and have dual-mode locos, or do you electrify the entire line? All told is this will cost unbelievable amounts of money, just because our heavy rail this year loosened up old landslide slip planes, which is also happening because of 50+ years of peoples massive overwatering of their landscaping
They have GOT to move that line inland.