DEL MAR, Calif. — Amtrak has announced they will be reopening their San Clemente track for riders on the weekend as workers continue stabilizing the Orange County passage.
“It’s nice to have Amtrak service now on the weekends. The reason they are doing that is because they’re long enough on the repairs so that they only need to work five days a week instead of seven days a week,” said Dave Druker, a board member from the North County Transit District.
The costal tracks along Del Mar have suffered several recent bluff failures, creating new urgency to move the track off the bluffs as fast as possible.
Passenger rail service was temporarily blocked off on Sept. 30, 2022 between Oceanside and Irvine because officials were worried about some movement of the tracks and the nearby hillside.
“We are still choosing to battle mother nature. Are the sea cliffs going to erode and go in so far you can’t have a train there? Yes. All we are doing is delaying the inevitable,” said Professor Pat Abbott from San Diego State University.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been set aside to eventually move the tracks off the bluffs, but construction isn’t expected until 2035.
In the near term, Amtrak is expected to get their rail system up and fully running everyday by March 1.