{"id":475609,"date":"2026-09-25T19:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475609\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T19:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:10:09","slug":"el-nino-threatens-the-beloved-pacific-surfliner-can-famed-train-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/475609\/","title":{"rendered":"El Ni\u00f1o threatens the beloved Pacific Surfliner. Can famed train survive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For years, Amtrak\u2019s Pacific Surfliner has been portrayed as the civilized way to travel to and from San Diego.<\/p>\n

No gridlock on Interstate 5. Glorious views of the Pacific Ocean. Even the chance to grab a drink and relax. <\/p>\n

But the iconic rail line connecting Orange County to San Diego is under threat thanks to coastal erosion \u2014 and officials say the situation could get much worse if predictions of an intense El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> winter come to pass. <\/p>\n

Heavy waves and erosion closed the rail line for days this summer. Last year, the line was closed for a month for repairs designed to protect against landslides.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a pain in the butt with the delays,\u201d said Shirley Moreno, a SeaWorld San Diego employee in her 30s who takes the Surfliner five times a month to visit family in Los Angeles. \u201cSometimes they close it down when I need to come out here.\u201d <\/p>\n

What makes the Surfliner so appealing \u2014 a picturesque view as the train rides right along the water \u2014 is also what makes it so perilous.<\/p>\n

For years, seas have been slowly rising as a result of human-caused climate change, leading to coastal erosion<\/a>. It\u2019s led to extreme weather events and the conditions brewing this summer in the Pacific are no exception. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s Climate Prediction Center said that there\u2019s a 97% chance of a \u201cstrong\u201d or \u201cvery strong\u201d El Ni\u00f1o over a three-month period ending in December. <\/p>\n

\" <\/p>\n

Coastal tracks used by the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner have been reinforced with large boulders.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a race with Mother Nature in terms of trying to protect the line,\u201d said Derrell Johnson, chief executive of the Orange County Transportation Authority, which manages the land under part of the Surfliner\u2019s route. \u201cThe rail line has been there since the 1880s but in the last five years, there\u2019s been no other time in history where we\u2019ve had this much impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

The challenges the line has faced this summer are evident in its social media posts<\/a>. In July, rides were canceled <\/a>because of washout risks. In August, high surf necessitated emergency repairs<\/a>. Earlier this month, a half-dozen trains<\/a> between San Diego and Los Angeles were canceled.<\/p>\n

Two years ago, the OCTA identified four hot spots of \u201csignificant concern\u201d along the coast that needed improvements, Johnson said. The agency secured $308 million in state and federal emergency funding to begin but hasn\u2019t been able to secure all of the permits in time from the California Coastal Commission, California State Lands Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers to complete the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we had hoped to be done in two years, looks to be at least another year and a half away,\u201d Johnson added. <\/p>\n

While OCTA is responsible for managing the land under the rails for 40 miles of coastline, which means maintaining the sand and boulders that help buffer the tracks from the surf, there\u2019s a seven-mile stretch in San Clemente that\u2019s considered particularly vulnerable and \u201chigh risk,\u201d Johnson said. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s where much of the focus has been this summer.<\/p>\n

\"An <\/p>\n

An Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train passes along the coastal tracks in San Clemente.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

San Diego Coast District Deputy Director Karl Schwing of the state Coastal Commission said that the agency has received an uptick in the number of emergency permit requests over the last month because of the hurricane-induced storms and the high tides.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks to the climate change and that sea-level rise, which are real issues,\u201d said Shannon Vaughn, coastal program manager for the California Coastal Commission. \u201cThere\u2019s development in these areas that are subject to wave action and high tide events. With the increase in erosion, it then increases potential damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

If things continue to deteriorate over the winter, things could get complicated for 19-year-old Julian Brannon, who lives in Los Angeles and uses the train to get to night classes at San Diego State at least once a month.<\/p>\n

Aboard the Surfliner from Los Angeles to San Clemente, about 50 passengers moved about the train car with capacity for about 90 people Monday morning. As the train arrived in San Clemente, passengers peered through the train windows to take in the crashing waves, sandy shoreline and beachgoers relaxing underneath umbrellas. <\/p>\n

In August, when service was disrupted, Brannon sat on the train for more than three hours before getting off and requesting an Uber, which costs significantly more money.<\/p>\n

Brannon would have to take a car or bus if the Surfliner is shut down or delayed long term. He said it\u2019s too expensive for him to make the drive from Los Angeles to San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had the opportunity to drive, I probably would, but also with the rising gas prices and the cost in owning a car in general, the Amtrak has been really convenient for me traveling back and forth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, Amtrak\u2019s Pacific Surfliner has been portrayed as the civilized way to travel to and from San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1802,1237,186914,10648,186915,186916,63,3906,10808,74,76,75,5931,67892,315,24764,72],"class_list":["post-475609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california-coastal-commission","tag-coastal-erosion","tag-derrell-johnson","tag-el-nino","tag-half-dozen-train","tag-iconic-rail-line","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-month","tag-san-clemente","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-summer","tag-surfliner","tag-time","tag-train-car","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475609","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=475609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}