skidder

Another day, another hillside giving way above the train tracks. This time its just north of the San Clemente Pier, north of the Casa Romantica slide, Its on a steeper slope that where Casa Romantica is so it might completely collapse and bury the tracks. No word on when it will re-open.

Officials don't know how long closure of San Diego-Orange County rail line will last (msn.com)

Polaris OBark

San Clemency. Is that where they have the Nixon library?

mackgoo

No. Just the house.

skidder

That's gone, too. The property was divided up and 'parted out' for multiple home lots.

diphthong

feds/amtrak will eventually need to route the train tracks above/below/alongside the 5 freeway from the peñasquitos lagoon/torrey pines area all the way to the doheny beach area in dana point where the current line turns inland
towards san juan capistrano. del mar and san clemente areas only getting worse.

skidder

I'm not familiar with the San Diego portion, but up in Orange County they'd be better off turning inland just before San Clemente around the Trestles area, going inland aways, then turning back towards San Juan Capistrano somewhere north of San Clemente, coming out around where the Ortega Hwy (SR64) meets the I-5. That would skip all of San Clemente, Capistrano Beach, and Dana Point.

diphthong

it gets complicated around trestles because that’s where camp pendleton starts/ends along with trestles, state beaches, san onofre power plant (supposedly decommissioned). all that leads me to believe/maintain that saving the train route from del mar south to dana point south (roughly 40 miles) best/likely easiest accomplished alongside/above/below the 5 freeway.
del mar area is bad and slowly worsening but the erosion in the san clemente coastal train track areas goes from cavities to root canals and extractions. similar to california hwy 1 in and around big sur...occasionally open, often closed and for chunks of time. long-term outlook/viability not good without major bypasses/bridges/tunnels/rerouting.
bumms me out because love a la to sd century taking the amtrak up to union station in dtown la. 3 hour ride. hop on at 4:08am...arrive at 6:54am. roll southwards and either head semi-straight back to sd (via 3-4 routes) or bounce around and shoot out towards playa del rey via venice blvd and the bike path from culver city to the beach. roll down the marvin braude beach path to
redondo, cruise palos verdes peninsula, brave the harbor area, (re)emerge in long beach, hit the coast all the way to newport back bay, then angle over to the irvine train station (all the daily commuters off by that point and actually space on the train to sit down). 1.5 hrs from there to dtown sd. between camp pendleton pulling passes/accessibility for
civilian cyclists and the sd/oc train debacle, glad i've got the memories because it doesn't seem like those rides are going to be replicated any time soon.

**edit**was on the amtrak site just now and sd to la wasn't totally grounded but they are running fewer trains thru the corridor for now. e.g. monday no trains from sd to la until 7am hour where there were usually a 4am and 6am train northbound. checked 2nd week of february and things looked
largely restored to normal. short-term gain but long-term pain down the road. and the words of the prophets are written on the train walls...only a matter of time.

cweb99

Damn im planning on a new ride to San Clemente then train to Carlsbad with the kids next week

skidder

You might want to give it a raincheck (traincheck?) as its supposed to rain all week and all that water is more than likely going to make the slide area worse.

indyfabz

Except neither Amtrak nor the feds own the line. Amtrak own between D.C and Boston, Philly and Harrisburg, PA and a bit in MI.

cweb99

yeah rescheduling. Sux cuz we were taking my boy to LEGOLAND for his b day. Pushing it back a week now. I’ll probably just ride to San Clemente and do the train ride in spring.

diphthong

doesn't mean the line doesn't need to be moved-long term-because it does. regardless of the powers/ca$hi$h that be involved, railroad line still needs to follow the 5 freeway through that stretch for fewer nimby lawsuits, environmental reasons, relative ease of transfer, construction viability and long-term success.

diphthong

may need/want to postpone till march. this storm cycle is going to absolutely trash the area. not doing the train trax any favors. hurts to type this as i'd love to take the amtrak up to/back from la/oc in the next few weeks.

calamarichris

Ooh, I'd forgotten about that! That means the BNSF robber-barons get to pay for these repairs and eventually the inland bridge to replace the trestles at Trestles, instead of the taxpayers.
Sometimes privatization actually works for the benefit of humanity. I can't see them getting the imminent domain inland though.

(Just kidding. I know a monster corporation like BNSF can afford the legal power to compel us to pay for it. Or they can out wait us--cargo is more patient than passengers.)

indyfabz

Since you know so much about the rail industry, tell us how much a total re-route would cost engineering design/construction-wise alone. (There would, of course, also be substantial land acquisition costs.) And its "eminent" domain, a power which a railroad in CA can exercise if all criteria are met.

But if you really want to think about the situation, consider the increased costs to John Q. Public from not having a viable rail corridor. For many commodities, rail transportation is cheaper than truck transportation, and way safer. There are lots of things that move by rail that you don't want that half asleep truck driver to be hauling while you are on the highway taking the kids to soccer practice. And don't forget how much the public already pays for the creation and maintenance of roads. And before you scream But I pay the federal gas tax!", realize that the last time I checked it only covers about 1/3 of federal highway spending. The rest comes from the general fund. Finally, let's not forget that a substantial portion of the population doesn't pay any federal income tax at all when the dust settles every year.

calamarichris

You got me. I was just dippin'-n-dappin' and I know nothing about the rail industry, except that (IMO) our rails being privatized is one major reason public transportation in this country bites the big one compared to much of Asia and especially to all of Europe.

Edit: not dippin'-n-dappin' about the latter. I lived and raced in Europe (NL) for three years, and while Amtrak has made some improvements, Dutch, German, Belgian, and French trains and lines remain vastly superior to what we have even now.

skidder

Hopefully the temp fixes the government agencies and the railroad have implemented will hold until a permanent solution can be found:

Full train service from San Diego to Orange County resuming Monday, March 25 (10news.com)

Garfield Cat

Question: The Amtrak Century

Is it going to be or not to be?

jsigone

more like Amtrak double century

JK, not sure if the line will be down that long, they were able to fix it pretty quick last yr.