Environment |

OCTA declares emergency to stabilize seaside bluff damaging train tracks in San Clemente

Transportation officials gave emergency approvals on Monday, Oct. 3, that will allow the start of a $12 million project to shore up an unstable landslide that is shifting a seaside bluff in south San Clemente and damaging an important rail line that runs along the beach carrying commuters and freight.

The tracks had been shifted enough by big swells during recent storm surges that combined with high sea levels and put pressure on the small sliver of beach that train service was halted late last week. If all goes well, officials said they hope to have the line open again by mid-November.

The Orange County Transportation Authority board declared an emergency need for the track work in special meeting Monday, which lets staff more quickly secure a contractor and start the project.

The work will drive in large metal anchors along 700 feet of slope to prevent it from pushing the track further toward the water. Ground anchors are typically effective in preventing soil movement by installing steel cables diagonally into the bedrock beneath the slope, OCTA staff said.

Geologists and engineers monitoring the area found that since the latest storm, tracks have moved from 0.01 inches to 0.04 inches per day.

Slope movement data will be assessed through mid-November with the temporary anchors, and if it works more permanent anchors would be installed early next year. Construction would finish between March and July.

Trains carrying more big rock boulders, called rip rap, have already been mobilized to add to the 18,000 tons of rock put in last year between the tracks and the sea, with hopes of holding the waves back from doing more damage. Train service was canceled for about two weeks last year after the tracks showed movement.

The California Transportation Commission also met in an emergency meeting Monday to discuss the ongoing problem, voting to cover half, or $6 million of the cost. In a separate action, Caltrans declared a state transportation emergency due to the damage.

“The long-term fix is elusive,” OCTA CEO Darrell Johnson said. “Even this is a plan – we’re hopeful, but there’s no guarantee. Mother Nature is at work.”

The latest troubles at this vulnerable section of coast followed Tropical Storm Kay, which brought big waves that combined with an extreme high tide, battering the rocks lining the railroad and sending sea water crashing onto the tracks.

The erosion issues and damage at this ocean-front stretch are just a glimpse at Southern California’s challenges as the sea creeps closer to infrastructure, roads and homes, and the complexities decision makers will face as climate change continues and the sand, which serves as a buffer from the sea, disappears, experts say.

More must be done to maintain the area’s beaches through sand replenishment efforts, Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said.

“We need a long-term plan, this is just a temporary fix,” she said. “The bottom line is that sand replenishment is really the solution. We have not been aggressive enough about getting the sand replenishment.”

Foley said more also needs to be done to connect with the scientific community to help come up with solutions.

“We can’t wait any longer. This is a temporary fix,” she said, “it’s not going to stop the problem – in fact it may make it worse for other areas, in my opinion.”

Some experts believe adding the large boulders, called hard armoring, can make erosion worse, causing the wave action to intensify when the sea pounds on the rocks, further chomping away at sand. The California Coastal Commission has dissuaded the use of a lot of hard armoring.

Johnson said his team at the OCTA will be looking at long-term solutions, which may include discussions of rerouting the line under the 5 freeway, though that option is “complex and expensive.”

“There’s not a lot of choices, which makes it tough,” he said. “We will begin looking at the long term, but this is measured in decades, not years.”

The rail line is a critical piece of the larger system, officials said. It has been a passenger and freight line since the late 1800s.

Thirty years ago, when the OCTA took over the right-of-way, less than 2 million people traveled by train a year. According to its latest figures, tallied just before the pandemic hit, an estimated 8.5 million people used the line annually, equivalent to an entire lane on the 5 freeway. It is also used by freight trains that go to the Port of San Diego and by Camp Pendleton as a strategic defense rail.

“This is about people. It’s about a project, but it’s about balancing what people need and what the community needs, what the environment needs,” Johnson said.

About a year and a half ago, his agency did a “Climate Resilience Study” that identified this stretch of coast as one of several “hotspots” to watch for potential rail damage due to erosion.

The beach was once expansive there with enough room for volleyball courts, fire rings and plenty of sand space for towels. But erosion there – and throughout South Orange County – has been worsened by a lack of rain to push new sand down flood channels, more frequent storm surges battering the region and delays in sand replenishment projects.

Gary Walsh, part of the advocacy group Citizens of San Clemente, said he understood the urgency to stabilize the area for the train service, but he also pleaded with officials to be open to ideas for long-term solutions and make restoring the beaches a mission.

“The rip rap exacerbates the loss of beach,” he said. “A couple years ago, we could walk on the beach, but we can’t do that today.

“We want OCTA to take responsibility, to commit to restoring these beaches after the tracks are stabilized,” he said. “We have innovative ideas, we urge and implore you to repair these beaches.”