Metrolink, Amtrak to resume full passenger train service through San Clemente

[quaint]

OCRegister

Worker drive in large metal anchors along 700 feet of slope to prevent it from pushing the track further toward the water in San Clemente, CA, on Tuesday, December 13, 2022. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Orange County Transportation Authority announced Monday, April 10, that Metrolink and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner rail services are ready to roll again, connecting Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and Orange County to San Diego County.

Emergency stabilization efforts have been underway since October, following track damage caused by storms that contributed to a bluffside to collapse and big surf that brought waves crashing onto the coastal rail line.

OCTA declared an emergency following the damage – the second time the tracks had shifted in a year – and began a $13.7 million project to stop the slope movement and stabilize the rail line. The California Transportation Commission contributed $6 million in emergency funding to help cover that cost.

According to OCTA officials, the addition of 200 ground anchors, which were drilled into the bedrock along the 700 feet of tracks, has halted the movement. As part of the repairs, big boulders, or rip rap, were stacked by the truckload along the shoreline, a method of “hard armoring” the tracks against the ocean waves.

A bit of good news.

[LoisB]

1. This is good news.