Full passenger rail service between Orange County and San Diego will resume April 17, following months of emergency construction. Seven-day service on the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, Metrolink Orange County and Metrolink Inland Empire-OC lines was suspended last September when coastal erosion moved a 700-foot section of track south of San Clemente and rendered it inoperable. 

“This emergency work has posed an unprecedented challenge, especially with the heavy rainfall this season, and we’re very pleased to announce that passenger service can safely resume on this key stretch of Southern California rail,” Orange County Transportation Authority Chairman Gene Hernandez said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate the public’s patience and their understanding that ensuring passenger safety is always the first priority.”

While Metrolink’s Orange County and Inland Empire-Orange County lines have not operated beyond the San Clemente Pier since emergency construction first began last October, Amtrak was able to resume weekend service on its Pacific Surfliner in early February, following completion of a first row of ground anchors that successfully stopped the slope from moving.

Since then, a second row of ground anchors has been drilled into the bedrock on a privately owned hillside next to the track between the ocean and the homes above it in the Cyprus Shore Homeowners Association. Storm surge and sand erosion on the coastal side of the track had moved it by more than two feet between September 2021 and September 2022, according to OCTA, which is currently working to cover the retaining wall and replant the area with native vegetation.

The agency owns 40 miles of track stretching through Orange County, including seven miles along the coast in Dana Point and San Clemente. OCTA is working with state and federal officials to fund research that will look at longer-term threats to the coastal rail line and whether it needs to be moved.