The Pacific Surfliner railway through San Clemente is closed again – this time for the foreseeable future after a portion of the hillside above the tracks collapsed
An incoming storm is expected to roll in next week and could bring even more damage.
The rail line moves over three million people a year between San Luis Obsispo and San Diego, with 26 daily trains across over 350 miles of track, making it the second busiest intercity rail corridor in the country.
The area has been closed on and off for over a year, as county leaders struggle with handling an encroaching coast line and stronger winter storms that have destabilized much of the hill above and below the tracks.
[Read: Is Orange County’s Coastal Train Entering its Final Days?]
Right now, officials are wrapping much of the hillside in visqueen, a waterproof plastic wrap, and dumping rocks at the foot of the hillside to take the brunt of the waves, a system known as riprap.
The National Weather Service has already flagged San Clemente for high surf conditions and issued a flood warning for Orange County and much of the surrounding area.
This all comes as repair crews are still trying to stabilize the hill after it slid on Jan. 24, taking a piece of the Mariposa Bridge with it.
While no decision has been made yet on whether or not the tracks will be moved further inland.
While some leaders see it as a future necessity others question if there’s enough interest among elected leaders to get the job done.
Fullerton City Councilman Fred Jung, who also serves on the Orange County Transportation Authority and on the committee that oversees the Pacific Surfliner tracks, said the tracks were recently tested with a single freight train and immediately closed after because it was too unstable.
“Even with the one train going by it was so unstable, that was that,” Jung said. “As we build closer to these things that normally we would not build on, we’re experiencing some issues.”
While he said the idea of closing the tracks permanently “is not an option,” he said no one was ready to move forward with pushing the rail line away from the coast.
“It will be a herculean lift, it will be extraordinarily expensive,” Jung said. “I don’t know that the stars align for that to happen anytime soon. It’s not like we can go 10 feet over and move it, this would be a dramatic capital improvement project.”
The Costs of a Shifting Coastline
County Supervisor Katrina Foley, who represents San Clemente and also serves on the transportation authority’s board, said it’s an issue that coastal trains are facing across the state.
“Del Mar is at risk. I was on a tour on the train a couple weeks ago, and you literally are right on the edge of the bluff, it’s dangerously close to giving away,” Foley said. “They’ve already decided they’re tunneling and building a new bridge.”
“We’re not going to stop the ocean,” she continued. “We might be able to stave it off for a while, but at great cost.”
When asked why San Clemente wasn’t having similar discussions yet, Foley’s answer was short.
“There hasn’t been political leadership until now to even talk about this issue. That’s the hard truth.
Katrina Foley
She noted that the OCTA is currently studying short term solutions to stabilizing the hill, with plans to hear back as early as March from inspectors with their recommendations, but the long term solution would require state and federal intervention.
Assemblywoman Laurie Davies, who represents San Clemente and the surrounding area, said in a statement her priority is “ensuring the active rail line remains open and clear,” but that she looked forward to the results from the study to take further action.
Will the Feds Help?
“The bottom line is it can’t be accomplished by OCTA in and of itself. We have to have state and federal roles and that’s what we’re working on,” Foley said. “But this is going to require billions of dollars of investment, this really needs to be a federally funded project.”
For the near future, Foley said the county needs to focus more on stabilizing the hill, performing testing to figure out where the next collapses are likely to occur.
“I feel if we do an assessment we can see which areas are at high risk. What do we need to do to stabilize these areas?” Foley said. “I don’t know how else we’ll protect against future landslides.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter at NBiesiada.
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