In anticipation of this week’s upcoming storm, workers have placed tarping on an unstable hillside in San Clemente where a landslide has ruined a section of the city’s popular coastal trail and halted passenger train service through the area.
The construction and project team brought in continues to work to secure the landslide area and facilitate more efficient water drainage, according to Scott Johnson spokesperson for Metrolink, which hasn’t been able to run its trains south of San Juan Capistrano since the middle of last week.
Extensive tarping of the landslide area has taken place in preparation for the impending rain.
“Through the efforts of Metrolink’s track department, along with the grading and excavating contractor, the project team is observing a decrease in hillside movement above the San Clemente right-of-way near the Mariposa Pedestrian Bridge,” Johnson said in an email Tuesday, Jan. 30. Damaged sections of the bridge had to be removed last week.
BNSF started running freight trains through the area at 10 mph between 9 p.m. Monday evening and 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
“Inspections of the track and a confirmation that it is safe to proceed will occur before and after each freight train passes,” an announcement said. “Along with the continued movement of the hillside, a major factor of why freight trains are allowed to pass San Clemente at night and passenger trains are not allowed during the day, is the constricted right-of-way and limited space for construction material and personnel.”
There is no definitive timeline for when passenger train movement can safely resume through the area.
Metrolink trains are only operating as far south as the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo Station weekdays. For more information on schedules or updates, go to metrolinktrains.com.
