Metrolink, Amtrak to Reopen After Erosion Closures in San Clemente

Workers fix the track for the Amtrak coastal railway line in San Clemente, Calif. on April 13, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Passenger train travel through San Clemente, California for Metrolink and Amtrack will resume April 17 after months of closure due to track slippage and unstable land, officials announced April 13.

Operations were suspended Sept. 30 after inspectors found a section of track that had shifted over 2 feet towards the ocean.

The University of California–Irvine’s Civil and Environmental Engineering professor Brett Sanders, who was on hand for the announcement, said weather patterns and engineering practices have been affecting the sand and rail line along San Clemente for some time.

Officials view the Amtrack coastal railway line in San Clemente, Calif. on April 13, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“But 2015 was a tipping point,” he said. “While El Nino storms had some effect, the cutting off of the sand supply has also been happening here over the years.”

In December, city officials approved a sand replenishment project with the Army Corp of Engineers which will add 250,000 cubic yards of sand to the city’s beaches after the Biden Administration allocated $9.3 million in federal funding for the project.

Workers fix track of the Amtrack coastal railway line in San Clemente, Calif. on April 13, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times