Solutions Sought for California Rail Corridor Besieged By Erosion

Whereas emergency development efforts proceed on the Los Angeles–San Diego–San Luis Obispo Rail Hall, referred to as LOSSAN, the Orange County Transportation Authority is now gathering public enter on its coastal rail resilience study. The research goals to establish potential options for a seven-mile stretch principally within the metropolis of San Clemente that has been closed a number of occasions because of coastal erosion.

The 351-mile LOSSAN hall is the nation’s second-busiest passenger rail route, carrying Amtrak and Metrolink trains and likewise transferring greater than $1 billion in freight annually. The rail line is designated as a U.S. Dept. of Protection Strategic Rail Hall Community asset due to its location close to army bases and ports.

“Repeated weather-related closures in San Clemente since 2021 underscore the necessity for each fast fixes and forward-looking options,” the company acknowledged in a launch.

Coastal erosion brought on a three-month shutdown of the seven-mile stretch starting in April. County authority crews in partnership with Metrolink positioned about 5,900 tons of riprap to guard monitor alignment and 240,000 cu yd of sand on the seaside in two areas between Mariposa Level and North Seaside. 

Greater than 400 ft of concrete barrier had been positioned on the inland facet of the monitor close to Mariposa Level, making a secure workspace for crews of Condon Johnson & Associates, which can finally construct an roughly 1,400-ft-long catchment wall beneath a design-build contract, says Jim Beil, the authority’s director of capital applications. “We’re finalizing design now,” he says.

The California Transportation Fee allotted $92.2 million in Might for the challenge, and the Federal Railroad Administration in June decided that it was categorically excluded beneath the Nationwide Environmental Coverage Act. 

Kleinfelder will present unbiased geotechnical engineering companies.

The authority can be pursuing an inland sand supply to position as much as 10,000 cu yd of sand on seashores exterior of the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers jurisdiction in coordination with the Orange County Water District, which goals to environmentally clear, excavate and transfer sand from the Prado Dam basin to a close-by stockpile website this fall, Beil says. “In the end, 240,000 cubic yards of sand shall be introduced in,” he says. The company anticipates a contract award subsequent 12 months.

It could actually’t be simply any sand, Beil notes, including that it will possibly’t have too many cobbles or a colour that clashes with present seaside sand. Dredging from the ocean ground implies marine life impacts and there’s just one suction hopper dredger on the West Coast, he says. 

However one other challenge, close to the border of San Diego County that may entail 1,400 cu yd of riprap and a 1,200-ft-long shoreline construction, doesn’t qualify for an emergency contract by the California Coastal Fee, regardless that “we’re one storm away from waves eroding into the railbed,” Beil says. Ocean County goals for a allow by fall.

Previous and Future Efforts

Three different emergency initiatives had been executed up to now three years alongside the stretch. From September 2022 to April 2023, crews constructed a soil nail wall and drilled greater than 200 floor anchors right into a slope at Cyprus Shores to forestall the tracks from transferring additional towards the coast because of erosion; they’d already been displaced 2 ft. From April to July 2023, a transferring slope behind the Casa Romantica Cultural Heart and Gardens required a barrier wall. and from January to March 2024, a landslide close to Mariposa Level toppled components of a pedestrian bridge alongside the alignment and despatched particles onto the tracks, requiring a 12-ft-high catchment wall.

The company says it obtained some $305 million in state and federal grant funds in 2024 for ongoing emergency repairs.

Jim Starick, geotechnical supervisor at HDR, which has an on-call marketing consultant contract with the county authority, says the Cypress Shores location misplaced “a whole lot of ft” of seaside amenities, together with firepits and volleyball courts. “A sand buttress was holding again this outdated landslide. We dumped a bunch of riprap to assist, nevertheless it was a band-aid. The everlasting answer was [100-ft-long] tiebacks. But it surely doesn’t remedy the issue of abrasion.”

The resilience research is taking a look at further choices to bolster the monitor for the subsequent 30 years to restrict additional disruptions to passenger rail service. Public suggestions this summer season will assist form draft alternate options and a closing feasibility report is anticipated in 2026.

A separate effort led by the state will take a look at options past the subsequent 30 years, together with doubtlessly transferring the rail line inland in south Orange County.