Metrolink, Amtrak Stop OC Service Through Jan. For Erosion Repairs

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — Metrolink and Amtrak travelers hoping to ride through Orange County must now wait until next year, as the agencies announced a suspension of passenger train service between San Diego and Orange counties through mid-January, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Metrolink and Amtrak initially suspended service on Sept. 30, after movement was detected in the area of an old landslide north of the San Diego County border, according to the report. The area has posed difficulties for transit officials for years.

While both agencies originally predicted a return time of November, they announced Friday that a contract for emergencies repairs had been awarded and that the required work could keep passenger trains out of commission through the end of the year.

“The new timeline of mid-January for the completion of construction — and a mid-December decision on the restoration of passenger rail service — came about in discussions with the signed contractor, Condon-Johnson, which was not the original construction firm contracted,” Orange County Transportation Authority spokesman Eric Carpenter said in an email to the LA Times Tuesday.

To learn more about the erosion threatening a stretch of railroad on the SoCal coast, read the full article on the Los Angeles Times.