But tunneling the rail line, Johnson said, would have "significant engineering complexities, extreme community impacts, and very, very expensive cost." The Federal Railroad Administration evaluated the environmental impact of such options in 2009. Longer-term solutions could involve replacing some stretches of vulnerable coastal track with tunnels built inland along the I-5. Johnson said if all the people who took the train through the area drove cars instead, the I-5 would have to add an extra lane or two to maintain the current level of gridlock. Why not just abandon the rail line? For one thing, doing so could have a huge impact on road traffic. "It's so different now," she said, noting that it's been more than a year since she could walk from San Clemente State Beach around the point where the track is under emergency repair. Plus, he said, beach loss affects everybody who enjoys the beach, not just train travelers.ĭebbie Sheldrake has been surfing off the San Clemente coast for 30 years and watched the beach disappear. Nevertheless, a spokesperson for Camp Pendleton wrote in an email that the rail closure has "little to no impact" on the base since most of the military equipment moves in and out of the base by commercial tractor trailer. Department of Defense's Strategic Rail Corridor Network, which is used by the military to transport heavy vehicles to nearby ports during deployment. The rail line is also the only one that goes in and out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and is part of the U.S. ![]() "When you're talking about goods movement, you can't just bring a train up to a certain area and unload all the goods and try to get those bussed around and then reloaded onto trains," Bartlett said. Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, who represents South OC and is on the OCTA board, said that commerce is an important part of the local economy, and difficult to quickly rearrange. It would lead to very poor customer service."īesides passengers, freight trains transport goods north from the Port of San Diego on the coastal tracks - as many as four to six trains per day in pre-pandemic times, OCTA CEO Darrell Johnson said. "But there aren't bus operators with buses available for the number of trains that are affected. "We do our best to offer alternatives during unexpected service interruptions," Johnson said. Scott Johnson, a spokesperson for Metrolink, said offering bus service wasn't feasible, in part because of the continued, pandemic-induced bus driver shortage. ![]() ![]() However, Metrolink riders who normally catch the train in Oceanside, San Clemente or San Juan Capistrano have had to find alternative transportation. Since the emergency suspension, Amtrak has temporarily replaced some of its trains with bus service.
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