The Orange County Transportation Authority is getting emergency assist to restore practice tracks in San Clemente after a landslide that halted service indefinitely between Orange and San Diego counties.
On Thursday, Caltrans issued an emergency declaration on account of the current landslide. Passenger practice service was stopped between the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo and Oceanside stations, that are utilized by Metrolink and Amtrak passengers.
“The hillside nonetheless is shifting, which is why passenger rail service hasn’t resumed,” mentioned Scott Johnson, director of communications for Metrolink. He mentioned, nonetheless, measures had been taken to brace the hillside above the tracks earlier than Thursday’s storm set in.
The emergency declaration permits the OCTA, which owns that part of the rail line, to entry as much as $10 million in instant emergency restore funding.
On Jan. 24, monitor personnel noticed particles and grime falling onto the monitor, prompting the closure, Johnson advised The Occasions on Thursday.
Forward of this week’s storm, “there was a big quantity of excavation and grading that came about,” Johnson mentioned, “together with efforts to revive an in depth culvert system.”
Staff positioned tubes, pipes, ballast and rock in addition to tarping to brace for the rain.
Groups had been “on the market all through the day Wednesday,” he mentioned. “They do proceed to see motion, however no important particles has fallen onto the monitor.”
Some freight trains are nonetheless allowed to make use of the monitor between the hours of 9 p.m. and three a.m. however at drastically diminished speeds, he mentioned.
Regardless of the emergency declaration and impending funding, there may be nonetheless no timeline as to when passenger rail service will resume.
This isn’t the primary time in recent times that the tracks have been closed because of a landslide. An identical incident occurred in April.
