Construction could start next week, weather permitting, on a barrier wall below the San Clemente landslide that has stopped enger train traffic between San Diego and Orange counties for almost a month.
Freight traffic had resumed but was suspended again Tuesday night and remained stalled late Thursday, after this week’s rain accelerated soil movement in the saturated slope. BNSF Freight, which carries cargo to and from the Port of San Diego, previously had been sending trains through the work area at night at speeds of 10 mph or less.
The Orange County Transportation Authority, which owns the railroad right-of-way, received a $7.2 million allocation late last week from the California Transportation Commission to pay for the wall and other work to stabilize the Mariposa slide site. The commission previously allocated $2.2 million for clean-up and pre-construction work.
“The team is still determining the final specifications for the wall, which is intended to catch any soil or debris and keep it from falling into the right-of-way,” a Metrolink spokesman said.
Metrolink, which works with OCTA to maintain the tracks, has approved a contract with Condon-Johnson and Associates to design and build the wall.
Completion of the wall is intended to allow regular enger and freight service to resume. A similar wall was built last year along the tracks about a half-mile to the south, below a slide at the city’s Casa Romantica. Repairs under way there include grading and hillside retaining walls.
The privately owned slope at the Mariposa slide can only be accessed from the railroad right-of-way, which makes it difficult for workers with heavy equipment to reach the site.
The slide there took out two 86-foot-long segments of a pedestrian bridge on the San Clemente Beach Trail that runs north and south parallel to the tracks.
San Clemente officials closed access to the bridge Jan. 15 after discovering it had been damaged by the slow-moving slide. Rail traffic was suspended Jan. 24 after the rain-soaked hillside pushed debris and parts of the bridge onto the railroad right-of-way.
Since then, the damaged sections of bridge have been removed by a crane brought in on a railroad car, and the slope has been graded. However, movement continued this week, and more rain is expected next week.
North County Transit District continues to run Coaster commuter trains on their normal schedule between downtown San Diego and Oceanside. Metrolink trains run as far south as the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo Station on weekdays and San Juan Capistrano on weekends.
Amtrak has suspended some of its Pacific Surfliner trains on the route, but some continue serving San Diego with a bus connection between Oceanside and Irvine.
The railroad is part of the so-called LOSSAN corridor, for Los Angeles-San Diego-and Luis Obispo, which is the only route for San Diego rail engers and freight to reach Los Angeles and other points across the United States.
