By SDCN Editor
Orange, CA–The rail line through San Clemente is set to reopen for regular passenger rail service on March 25, as emergency work to build a catchment wall to protect the track is wrapping up this week.
The Orange County Transportation Authority, which owns the track through San Clemente, worked in partnership with Metrolink, which operates regional passenger rail service, to build a 200-foot-long wall at Mariposa Point, to safely re-establish service on the track.
Metrolink and the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, operator of Pacific Surfliner, are each planning to resume full service as of Monday morning. Passengers are being updated through social media, station messages, and direct communication.
Metrolink passengers are asked to look for the latest updates on train schedules at metrolinktrains.com.
Pacific Surfliner passengers can visit pacificsurfliner.com/alerts for updated train schedules.
Full passenger service is being restored ahead of the initial schedule because of expedited work made possible with cooperation between the transportation agencies and the California State Transportation Agency.
In the past week, the construction team working at the San Clemente site finished the catchment wall and continued to work on a more comprehensive drainage system and trenching along the rail right of way. The team also worked in coordination with the City of San Clemente to adjust a sewer access point. This week, additional tie replacement and track resurfacing will take place.
The emergency construction work was necessitated by a January 24 landslide from a privately owned hillside that littered the rail right of way below with soil and debris halting rail service.
After extensive work, limited Pacific Surfliner passenger service resumed in early March but Monday will mark the first time regular passenger service has resumed through the area since the initial slide.
For the longer term, Orange County Transportation Authority and its rail partners will continue to work with local, state, and federal stakeholders on both near-term and long-term solutions for protecting rail movement along this critical corridor.
