Metrolink partially suspends Orange County train lines due to landslides — again

Metrolink has again partially suspended rail services in Orange County because of landslides and falling debris near the Casa Romantica estate in San Clemente, according to service alerts.

Service had restarted a week ago after an earlier closure, but transportation officials again closed tracks between San Diego and Orange counties on Monday morning after discovering a landslide beneath the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens.

Hours later, officials said tracks between Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo and Oceanside would be closed until further notice, affecting service for the Orange County and Inland Empire-Orange County lines and Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner and BNSF Railway.

Amtrak officials said Monday morning that the tracks would reopen “once the debris has been cleared and it is determined safe to operate trains through the area.”

Debris from the unstable slope was discovered in the railroad right-of-way early Monday morning, officials said, and commuter service was halted “out of an abundance of caution.”

Metrolink officials said passengers would be given Uber vouchers worth up to $50 to complete scheduled trips that had been interrupted by the closure. There is no alternative public transportation to or from San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente or Oceanside.

Metrolink officials did not say when service is expected to resume.

“Geotechnical engineers are assessing the situation,” Orange County Transportation Authority spokesman Eric Carpenter said Monday. “We don’t have a timeline for reestablishing service at this point.”

This is the latest in a series of rail closures in recent months due to landslides.

Rail traffic was suspended in late April due to a landslide at Casa Romantica, which is just north of Metrolink’s San Clemente Pier Station.

The 2.5-acre estate, built in the 1920s, is owned by the city and used for events. It had partially reopened over the Memorial Day weekend.

The initial landslide at Casa Romantica occurred in late April, less than two weeks after a previous six-month suspension of train service, the result of a landslide two miles south, at the Cyprus Shores community near the San Diego County border.

Contractors hired by the OCTA reinforced a rock revetment on the beach and installed steel anchors in the hillside to stabilize the slope at Cyprus Shore, an effort that cost more than $13.7 million.

A previous slide at the Cyprus Shore site suspended passenger train service for weeks in 2021.

Experts say a permanent solution will be difficult given the poor soil quality at both areas. The problem has been compounded by the unusually wet winter.

Freight trains have continued to use the tracks, traveling at decreased speeds of 10 to 15 mph, through most of the construction process.

The coastal rail route is the only passenger and freight link between San Diego and Los Angeles and to other rail destinations across the United States.

Southern Orange County is one of several places where the train tracks are threatened by coastal erosion along what’s called the LOSSAN corridor between San Diego, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo.

Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) has twice hosted federal officials at the tracks at Del Mar and San Clemente. Levin has emphasized the need to improve and relocate sections of the railroad that are vulnerable to sea-level rise.

Since December, the unstable cliffs have cost Orange County about $26 million in damage to public and private property.

Phil Diehl is a staff writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune.