Notice: All Amtrak Service Suspended Between SD and San Juan Capistran

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Spokker

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This applies to 12/22/10.

Closure affects NTCD Coaster for locals as well.

http://carlsbad.patch.com/articles/storm-forces-nctd-to-cancel-coaster-service-2

"All Coaster trains have been cancelled today due to the heavy rain that has saturated San Diego County for almost a week.

The North County Transit District announced that the closure was caused by high water in Sorrento Valley and debris on the track in Encinitas."

I saw the heavy rains last night so I'm not surprised our aging infrastructure has not held up. We have to go to San Diego today for business and high speed rail would have really been handy right about now. Shrug.
 
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I'm not sure, but Metrolink is sending trains as far South as Laguna Niguel only.
 
Saw railroad workers on the bridge just north of oceanside.

Really bad day for the train. We are driving to SD. No traffic at all. We really need to ugrade our rail infrastructure.
 
Considering how much of the route is feet from the Ocean I m not surprised the storm has had an effect.

I am in the desert and there have been a number of roads closed from this storm.

Aloha
 
I'm not surprised either. You simply can't count on the train in America when the going gets tough, whether it's the railroad's fault or not. Sure, it's fun if you're visiting family or taking the kids on their first train trip, but if you have time-sensitive business to do, you are better off taking your personal vehicle. It's a shame really, because rail could really work in this state if we had the political will to build modern rail infrastructure.

I took a walk through Santa Fe Depot and it was sad looking at everybody who was stranded there as service is suspended for the rest of the evening. They may call family and friends to pick them up, or book a night in a hotel, but they will never take the train again. It's not about being angry, it's about facing reality, you just can't count on the train.
 
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Right, because when the roads flood out, your car can magically float over the water. :rolleyes:
Well, I don't live in the woods where the mud is going to knock down my stupid house. I live in a city like a normal person which doesn't burn down or shift every other year.

Today, I-5 was wide open. No real problems to speak of between OC and SD. Those who are stranded at Santa Fe Depot are out of luck. Look, it's no one's fault, really. It's just the reality of the situation.
 
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Well, I don't live in the woods where the mud is going to knock down my stupid house. I live in a city like a normal person which doesn't burn down or shift every other year.
I don't even know what that has to do with All Amtrak Service being Suspended Between SD and San Juan Capistrano.
 
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This applies to 12/22/10.

Closure affects NTCD Coaster for locals as well.

http://carlsbad.patch.com/articles/storm-forces-nctd-to-cancel-coaster-service-2

"All Coaster trains have been cancelled today due to the heavy rain that has saturated San Diego County for almost a week.

The North County Transit District announced that the closure was caused by high water in Sorrento Valley and debris on the track in Encinitas."

I saw the heavy rains last night so I'm not surprised our aging infrastructure has not held up. We have to go to San Diego today for business and high speed rail would have really been handy right about now. Shrug.
The first time around for our new Governor, Jerry Brown, in 1981, he proposed a major upgrade for the San Diego-LA rail line, including double-tracking for the entire route in San Diego County and a tunnel between suburban San Diego and Del Mar to eliminate a slow round-about route crossing lagoons, spanning canyons and hugging hills.

Those plans got sidetracked when private investors initially backed with Japan National Rail infrastructure funds decided they could build a bullet train. The high-speed plans collapsed in 1984 both because private investors wanted government guarantees and politically-connected coastal residents raised environmental howls over (mostly imaginary)effects from a high-speed rail line. Sound familiar?

In the hub-bub, the comprehensive plans for upgrading the existing SD-LA service to two hours one-way fell by the wayside. Ever since, most of the incremental improvements have been made in Orange and LA Counties by Metrolink; just enough improvements to keep running times LA-SD about 2 hours, 45 minutes, despite increased freight and passenger services.

So 30 years later, we still have an aging--some might say over-aged--largely single-track line at the mercy of rock slides and flooding from high tides coinciding with heavy rain in the numerous coastal lagoons along the right-of-way.

And the latest proposal for a bullet train, even it were somehow to see the light of day, will run between LA and SD via an eastern route from LA to Riverside and the down the inland corridor paralleling I-15, doing nothing for improving passenger service between SD and Orange County. It could still take some two hours to get from SD to Anaheim, where the stub of a bullet train spur from LA is schedule to end. Two hours to Anaheim, some 90 miles, and then three hours perhaps all the way to San Francisco. It's going to be hard to get excited about such a bifurcated service.
 
Could this be the reason for suspended service. If so this is scary.

165511_1411912712359_1668762294_783994_115089_n.jpg
 
I'm not surprised either. You simply can't count on the train in America when the going gets tough, whether it's the railroad's fault or not. Sure, it's fun if you're visiting family or taking the kids on their first train trip, but if you have time-sensitive business to do, you are better off taking your personal vehicle. It's a shame really, because rail could really work in this state if we had the political will to build modern rail infrastructure.

I took a walk through Santa Fe Depot and it was sad looking at everybody who was stranded there as service is suspended for the rest of the evening. They may call family and friends to pick them up, or book a night in a hotel, but they will never take the train again. It's not about being angry, it's about facing reality, you just can't count on the train.
I can only speak from my personal experience, but I've found the train a decent option in bad weather. Often times when the highways and airways are closed at least Amtrak plugs along (even if painfully behind schedule.) But, that being said, neither the highway gods, airway gods, or railway gods have control over Mother Nature. It is unfortunate when disruptions occur during the holiday travel season for sure, but blaming Amtrak for something beyond their control may be unwarranted.
 
I'm not surprised either. You simply can't count on the train in America when the going gets tough, whether it's the railroad's fault or not. Sure, it's fun if you're visiting family or taking the kids on their first train trip, but if you have time-sensitive business to do, you are better off taking your personal vehicle. It's a shame really, because rail could really work in this state if we had the political will to build modern rail infrastructure.

I took a walk through Santa Fe Depot and it was sad looking at everybody who was stranded there as service is suspended for the rest of the evening. They may call family and friends to pick them up, or book a night in a hotel, but they will never take the train again. It's not about being angry, it's about facing reality, you just can't count on the train.
I can only speak from my personal experience, but I've found the train a decent option in bad weather. Often times when the highways and airways are closed at least Amtrak plugs along (even if painfully behind schedule.) But, that being said, neither the highway gods, airway gods, or railway gods have control over Mother Nature. It is unfortunate when disruptions occur during the holiday travel season for sure, but blaming Amtrak for something beyond their control may be unwarranted.
It should also be remembered that airline flights, bus routes and highways are also affected by snow,sleet, ice, wind, rain and other inclement weather conditions. I would say that trains are the least affected.
 
This is just a matter of waiting for water to subside and a track inspection correct? I have a rail dependent trip to Socal in mid-January and am hoping this will be a distant memory by then.
 
This is just a matter of waiting for water to subside and a track inspection correct? I have a rail dependent trip to Socal in mid-January and am hoping this will be a distant memory by then.
It's worse than that. Tracks and ballast have been washed out. You'll need more than an inspection to get some of it up and running again. Assuming that there isn't more bad weather coming, I'd guess it will be fixed before your trip, but then again, I don't know the full extent of the damage.

I've seen some photos, and it looks pretty bad. However, what will determine how long it will take to get fixed is how much of it is pretty bad.
 
Could this be the reason for suspended service. If so this is scary.

165511_1411912712359_1668762294_783994_115089_n.jpg
Yes, that photo is in Sorrento Valley Lagoon between San Diego and Del Mar. In other places, the track is completely underwater. There are also problems at San Onofre Creek at the San Diego-Orange County boundary, where the existing bridge is 100 years old (though due to be replaced very soon).

All Amtrak service is suspended between San Diego and points north until Monday. What a time of the year for service to be down. I imagine there will be a bus bridge but it's not exactly a very good substitute (which is why train travel between LA and SD is far more popular than Greyhound).
 
Metrolink reports that their service is back up and running, hope that Amtrak will follow soon. Coaster doesn't expect to be back for Saturday, but for Monday.
 
How does Metrolink resume but not Amtrak? I was on 572 earlier and yeah, it was scheduled to terminate in San Juan Capistrano.
 
Right, because when the roads flood out, your car can magically float over the water. :rolleyes:
There are usually options when it comes to roads. More than one interstate between LA area (may have to take 15) and San Diego.
 
How does Metrolink resume but not Amtrak? I was on 572 earlier and yeah, it was scheduled to terminate in San Juan Capistrano.
Metrolink does not run to San Diego. That's where the biggest problems are.
 
Could this be the reason for suspended service. If so this is scary.

165511_1411912712359_1668762294_783994_115089_n.jpg
WOAH was that Surfliner running when you took the pic?

Hopefully when CA completes the HSR they elevate that section of the HSR, from Oceanside to SD.
That's just my point in my first posting. The HSR will not run along the coast. It is planned, if it ever gets built in 50 years or so, to run inland up the Interstate 15 corridor to Riverside, then west into Los Angeles.

The Amtrak/Coaster/Metrolink line between San Diego and Anaheim will continue to struggle for funds to make most or all of it double-track and provide reliable, faster service for the hundreds of thousands of passengers each year who travel by train along the coast, and not from SD to Riverside. Two hours from SD to Anaheim but 45 minutes or less to Riverside. What a deal!

I wouldn't hold my breath for any substantive upgrades for the coast line, as California has diverted practically every cent it has in rail capital funds to keep HSR plans on life support, as no private investment has been forthcoming, or even hinted at.
 
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