OC-San Diego train service shutdown postponed until February

The train service was set to reopen in either November or December, but due to higher amounts of construction and repairs needed to fix the tracks, OCTA officials pushed the date back to early next year. Photo by DANIEL PEARSON, staff photographer

Residents in Orange County and San Diego who use the Metrolink will now have to wait until at least February 2023 for the service to come back after a state of emergency was declared Sept. 30 due to a landslide and coastal erosion from Tropical Storm Kay.  

In public update sent out by Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) officials a few days after Sept. 30, the project to reopen the tracks had been set to be completed by early-to-mid November. However, in mid-October, the date for the service to start up again was pushed back to mid-December to allow more time for construction and repairs.

On. Nov. 17, OCTA said the service won’t be back until at least February. County transportation officials have linked the coastal erosion and landslide issues from Tropical Storm Kay to climate change, stating that a longer-term solution will eventually be needed.

“I’m frustrated for the people that depend on this train, but I really appreciate Amtrak's and Metrolink’s dedication to safety and their prioritization of the riders,” said freshman creative writing major Mia Garofalo, who uses the train service once a month to visit her best friend at the University of San Diego. 

Garofolo has been able to continue traveling back and forth between Orange County and San Diego using the bus services and routes that Amtrak and Metrolink are currently offering to their passengers.

“With rail service shut down right now, we want to make sure that this work is done as quickly as possible,” OCTA spokesman Eric Carpenter told ABC7. “We’ve worked so far to place large boulders known as riprock on one side, on the coastal side, and what we’re doing now is working along 700 feet of beach in San Clemente to make sure that the hillside is stabilized and won’t affect the track.”

Carpenter along with other OCTA officials agree that it’s too risky to continue passenger rail travel at this time because of shore erosion and an unstable hillside due to the damage caused by Tropical Storm Kay, which could worsen if not repaired soon. 

In the past 14 months, the OC-San Diego rail line has moved about 28 inches closer to the ocean, Carpenter said. 

“Having the OC-San Diego train service down until February might make things a bit more difficult for me because usually, when I want to travel to see friends or family, I use the train service,” said sophomore film production major Aliana Nuño. “It makes me feel as if I can’t see family who live far more frequently.”

Since the train service has been down, Nuño told The Panther that she has had to drive the distance between Orange County and San Diego. Due to the halt, she has had to spend more money on gas while also having to drive long distances, and she hopes the train service will be back soon.

OCTA officials acknowledge that they will need to seek a longer-term solution in order to ensure the tracks are safe for passenger travel now as well as into the future. 

According to Orange County supervisor and OCTA board member Katrina Foley, this may include potentially moving the tracks away from the ocean and as far inland as the Interstate 5 freeway in order to account for further erosion hitting the coastline.

“I was personally very sad about the train being down,” said Shoshana Lehrer, a sophomore integrated educational studies major. “It was a very easy way for me to get home for a quick trip and the train has Wi-Fi, so I could also get work done while traveling. I am going home less now since my only option is driving.”

Junior health science major Baylee Crummett is currently using her car instead of the train service to drive to and from Orange County and San Diego to visit her friends while the service remains unavailable.

“I feel fortunate that I have other modes of transportation to visit friends in San Diego, so the services being down for a later time than expected is not critical to me,” said Crummett, who used to utilize the service to save time and money on gas. “However, I sympathize with other Orange County locals who exclusively used the train services to get to San Diego for work, services or to visit loved ones.”