Days of heavy rains cause more movement of slope next to track at Mariposa Point, causing BNSF to halt freight rail traffic; additional slope and track inspections planned for Wednesday
ORANGE – The storm that continued to sweep through Orange County on Tuesday soaked the already saturated slope at Mariposa Point in San Clemente, causing the slope to move toward the rail line at an accelerated pace.
Project engineers projected that soil and debris from the Mariposa Point slide, at Milepost 204.2, could reach into the rail right of way by late Tuesday.
Because of the threat of soil and debris reaching the track, BNSF won’t run freight trains through the area Tuesday night. Freight trains had run at 10 mph during overnight hours for the past several nights. Passenger service had already been halted since the initial Jan. 24 slide on the private-property slope above the track.
The OCTA and Metrolink team will reassess the slope movement and inspect the track again on Wednesday morning.
OCTA, working with Metrolink, will also continue pursuing the option of building a barrier wall to protect the track and work toward determining when at least limited passenger service can safely resume through San Clemente.
For additional updates and background, visit www.octa.net/railupdates.
For Updates on Rail Service: Passengers are asked to check MetrolinkTrains.com and PacificSurfliner.com/Alerts for real-time updates.
Background: The rail line was closed through San Clemente the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 24, when a landslide on private property above the city-owned Mariposa Trail Pedestrian Bridge caused major damage to the bridge and scattered debris onto the track.
OCTA, which owns the track, worked with partners at Metrolink and contractors to quickly mobilize emergency crews, who used heavy machinery on the rails to remove debris and haul away two large spans of the bridge, each weighing 24,000 pounds. The OCTA and Metrolink team continues to work to resume safe passenger rail service as soon as possible.
Over the past three years, San Clemente’s eroding bluffs – on both city and private property – have repeatedly forced the closure of the rail line which has operated largely uninterrupted for more than 125 years.
