It may be a while before train enthusiasts and passengers can enjoy a beautiful stretch of the iconic train route along California’s Pacific coast. Citing urgent follow-up work, Amtrak service suspended indefinitely on Friday on the southern part of its popular service Pacific Surfliner route.
The portion of the now-suspended route that runs between Irvine and San Diego, the roughly 85-mile southernmost part of the route is usually a 351-mile train ride along the Pacific Coast.
Typically, Pacific Surfliner offers passengers views of the beaches and undulating hills while connecting them to major destinations in southern California between San Diego at the southern end of the route and San Obispo, north of Santa Barbara, at the north end of the route.
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Amtrak did not provide a timetable for the maintenance that caused the incident but noted that it is working with its partners to establish limited service from the oceanside stop in Oceanside, south to San Diego. It is also possible that soon there will be buses connecting the northern and southern parts of the Pacific Surfliner while the work on the tracks goes on.
Coastal erosion is clearly the cause
Emergency rail replacement work at the heart of these disruptions is taking place in San Clemente, south of Los Angeles, Anaheim and Irvine, but north of Oceanside and San Diego.
Crews are working to fix problems on the right side of the road – the area below and right around the track, in the hopes of rebuilding and stabilizing the land and track. CBS News in Los Angeles reports Coastal erosion has been a problem in San Clemente in recent years and following recent tropical storm activity.
The rail operator said Amtrak announced the decision to suspend the southern portion of the route on Friday “out of an abundance of caution” for passengers and crew.
Amtrak officials said in a statement: “We understand that the closure will result in disruption and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it causes to our passengers.” .
Temporary solutions
While nothing is known yet, now that the Pacific Surfliner is able to run again between San Diego and San Luis Obispo, it looks like the southernmost portion of the route will soon be back in service.
In announcing the service suspension on Friday, Amtrak noted that it was working with its partners to establish limited train service between Oceanside, south of the problem area, and San Diego .
And while hopping off the train, getting on the bus, and then back on the train might not seem like a particularly convenient sequence, especially when it comes to laying out a nice train route, it’s likely that planning must also be taken into account. temporary, as Amtrak has always endeavored to provide at least some kind of link between the northern and southern portions of the Pacific Surf route. This would involve a bus connection between Irvine and Oceanside, allowing passengers to avoid the location where the crews were working.
Some of these fallbacks will go into effect on Monday. If you are planning to take a Pacific windsurf in the near future, check this page for updates on ways you can navigate ongoing disruptions.
Key point
While Amtrak is working to establish contingency plans, you will not be able to travel from start to finish on the Pacific Surfliner line as usual “until further notice”, the rail operator said. If you’re planning on taking any part of the route south of Los Angeles, you’ll want to keep a close eye on Amtrak’s latest updates so you know what to expect during your trip.
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