The on-again, off-again rail service through San Clemente is on again.
According to the Orange County Transportation Authority, the troubled-plague section is set to reopen for passenger rail service on Monday, July 17, as emergency work has been completed to build a temporary barrier wall to protect the track.
The dimensions of the barrier wall are 250 feet long and 12 feet high, with the piles set 32 feet beneath ground.
There are three agencies with their hands involved: Metrolink, which operates regional passenger rail service; the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency, which operates the Pacific Surfliner service; and the Orange County Transportation Authority, which owns the track through Orange County.
The three agencies collaborated to construct a temporary barrier wall below the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, to safely re-establish service on the track.
Metrolink and Pacific Surfliner are each planning to resume service as of Monday, July 17.
The rail line is being reopened in time for the popular summer season for rail travel, including the Comic-Con Convention, which runs July 20-23 in San Diego, and the return of thoroughbred horse racing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds beginning July 21.
An initial halt to passenger rail service began on April 27, when the slope behind Casa Romantica began to slide. Service temporarily resumed in late May but was halted again on June 5, when significant additional sliding occurred.
Metrolink and OCTA worked in partnership to build the temporary barrier wall on an emergency basis to protect the tracks, so passenger service could safely resume as soon as possible. The city of San Clemente continues work to stabilize the hillside for the long-term.
An earlier project to stabilize the track near homes in the Cyprus Shore Homeowners Association – about two miles south of the Casa Romantica project – is also nearing completion and not affecting train service.
