After heavy storms in January caused rocks and debris to effectively bury train tracks in San Clemente, passenger rail service — including Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner out of San Diego — will resume on Monday, transportation officials announced Tuesday.
Emergency work on a 200-foot-long retaining wall to protect the tracks from additional falling debris at the site of the Jan. 24 landslide near the city-owned Mariposa Trail Pedestrian Bridge is expected to wrap up this week.
Amtrak began offering some limited passenger service on its Pacific Surfliner trains earlier this month, and some freight trains were able to through the affected section at night in recent weeks. However, full service on both Metrolink and Amtrak lines will resume Monday morning.
The railroad tracks in the San Clemente area were also closed last year due to mudslides and debris. The first was in April near the Casa Romantica Culture Center and Gardens, blocking the tracks for a month while repairs were completed.
Another mudslide occurred in the same general area on June 5, prompting another rail closure that lasted nearly six weeks.
Updated nformation on train schedules is available at metrolinktrains.com and at pacificsurfliner.com/alerts.