WATSONVILLE, Calif. — For the second time this winter, Amtrak has been forced to halt Coast Starlight service for an extended period in the wake of weather-related damages to Union Pacific’s Coast Line.
Following a fierce winter storm that made landfall on Friday, March 10, a 74-year-old earthen levee along the Pajaro River in Monterey County developed a 400-foot-long rupture that unleashed built-up river water into Watsonville and the area surrounding the town. A total of 8,500 people were forced to evacuate as a result of rising flood waters, with roughly 50 rescues taking place, the Associated Press reports.
Scenes of mangled track and the washed out roadbed of Union Pacific’s Coast Subdivision were shared by KSBW News on Tuesday, March 14, while an image shared by UP in a March 14 announcement to customers shows the yard and mainline tracks at Watsonville completely submerged.
“The flooding in the Watsonville area continues to prevent our crews from making repairs,” said UP in a March 15 update. “Customers with rail shipments moving through the impacted California areas should anticipate extended delays. Once the water recedes and we can fully assess the repairs required, we will provide an update including an estimated timeline for reopening the line and lifting the embargo.”
The last Coast Starlights to pass through the Watsonville area did so on March 11. Following the closure at Watsonville, Amtrak originated the northbound Starlight at Emeryville, Calif., on Sunday, March 12, but has canceled all service on the route since. Amtrak’s website continues to show the trains as “sold out” between Emeryville and Los Angeles through Sunday, March 19, and the southbound train today (March 16) has been canceled out of Seattle. But of midday, Amtrak’s website still shows northbound train No. 14 train as departing Emeryville this evening.
Another storm is projected to reach the California coast line on Sunday, March 19, with rain forecasted to last until Wednesday, March 22, in some areas.
The current issues follow an extended closure of the Coast Line in January near Santa Maria, Calif., because of storm-related damage to a bridge on the grounds of Vandenberg Space Force Base [see “Union Pacific’s line on California coast remains shut down …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 18, 2023].
“UP Coast Line again shut down by storm damage ….”
(Which will no doubt lead to more UP service embargoes of freight customers in the Midwest and elsewhere on the UP network ….)
For a long time I have thought an efficient Auto Train between LA and SF might work.
Effectively there are no Republicans in California, the Democrats do whatever they want.
BTW Southern Pacific wanted to sell the Coast Line to the state in 1994
They’re dealing with more than one disruption. There was a mudslide north of Vancouver, WA on Monday that resulted in the usual 48-hour suspension of passenger trains. I was on 14 that day, which was the last one to tip toe through the affected area before the Cascades and subsequent Coast Starlights were shut down.
And why is the train cancelled between Emeryville and Seattle ? Makes absolutely no sense.
As little as UP uses the Coast Line, I don’t know why the State hasn’t offered to buy it from them and lease it to anyone willing to offer service while upgrading the line to handle more passenger traffic. It’s a perfect corridor for an overnight AutoTrain style service between the S.F. Bay Area and Los Angeles basin.
The Republicans would cry “COMMUNISM!”, and filibuster it to hell and back.
Sometime in the early ’90’s CA was negotiating with SP to buy the line. Had it been sold, we would have had a restored Coast Daylight by now. Alas, I do not recall what became of those donations. Did CA think SP’s price to be too high? Or was its CA’s lack of money?