{"id":457745,"date":"2026-09-09T01:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457745\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T01:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:20:11","slug":"rail-line-closes-due-to-big-wave-high-tide-damage-in-south-o-c-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457745\/","title":{"rendered":"Rail line closes due to big wave, high tide damage in south O.C. \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Train services are shut down through south Orange County due to damage on tracks<\/a> from the tropical storm that roared into the over the weekend region.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinued high tides and powerful wave activity along the San Clemente coastline have prompted the temporary closure of the coastal rail line after additional erosion and slope damage were observed near the tracks Monday night,\u201d an Orange County Transportation Authority alert on Tuesday said. The agency had warned of potential delays earlier in the weekend.<\/p>\n

Waves overtopped the tracks in the affected area and caused further deterioration along the adjacent slope, including damage to some previously placed protective rock, OCTA officials said. The rail line was closed so crews could safely assess conditions and perform additional emergency stabilization.<\/p>\n

Crews are continuing repairs, the agency said, and will remain on site to monitor the coastline as elevated tides continue. Severe high tides are expected through at least Thursday, and additional protective work will be performed as conditions allow.<\/p>\n

The current closure affects Metrolink, Amtrak Pacific Surfliner and freight rail operations through the area, officials said.<\/p>\n

During the closure, Metrolink is operating as far south as the Laguna Niguel\/Mission Viejo station. Pacific Surfliner is operating as far south as San Juan Capistrano and providing a bus bridge between Irvine and Oceanside.<\/p>\n

No timeline for reopening was given in Tuesday\u2019s update.<\/p>\n

Previously scheduled rail construction and maintenance activities are also scheduled to close the rail line on Saturday, Sept. 12, and Sunday, Sept. 13.<\/p>\n

As erosion has shrunk the beach, this section of the rail line has been battered by waves in recent years, with OCTA and rail partners pausing service several times to address damage to the tracks.<\/p>\n

Advocates have been calling on OCTA for years to replenish lost sand in the area to provide a buffer between the ocean and the rail line<\/a>, arguing the big boulders that have been placed to protect the tracks have worsened erosion in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cOCTA also continues working with the state and local partners on longer-term planning to improve the resiliency of the coastal rail corridor in south Orange County while advancing near-term stabilization and sand placement efforts to help protect the existing rail line,\u201d agency officials said in their release on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Eric Carpenter, spokesman for OCTA, said the agency is still calculating how much riprap is needed for emergency repairs as conditions have changed rapidly over the weekend.<\/p>\n

The bluffside was saturated, and crews are assessing the damage to the coastal side slope, which has eroded in spots near the tracks themselves.<\/p>\n

Those crews are in the process of making emergency repairs, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe waves have continued to be a threat to this area,\u201d he said, \u201cjust as they have been up and down the coastline in recent days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Train services are shut down through south Orange County due to damage on tracks from the tropical storm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1785,7,23,100,611,9963,10808,6736,136,1967],"class_list":["post-457745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-beaches","tag-california","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-transportation-authority-octa","tag-san-clemente","tag-san-juan-capistrano","tag-top-stories","tag-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}