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Officials waiting for assurance of slope stability under Casa Romantica before re-starting rail service

May 2, 2023

Passenger rail service continues to be halted through San Clemente, as officials assess the steep slope under Casa Romantica for stability.

On Monday, May 1, officials from the city, local geology consultants, the Orange County Transportation Authority, which owns the railroad right-of-way through the county, and Metrolink caught up on the newest details related to ground movement after a terrace at the back of the historic landmark started to slide recently, dropping 20 feet on Thursday.

Cracks are appearing in the patio at Casa Romantica in San Clemente, CA, on Friday, April 21, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Casa Romantica patio hangs over a cliff north of the pier in San Clemente, CA, on Friday, April 28, 2023. The already weakened bluff-top patio at cracked and slide down the hillside Thursday afternoon, April 27. The slide halted rail service in the area and caused four condos to be red-tagged out of concern for safety. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Falling dirt and debris made its way close to the railroad tracks, prompting train service to be stopped at Oceanside to the south and Laguna Niguel, or at times San Juan Capistrano, to the north for both Metrolink and the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner.

The debris also surrounded a condominium building below the casa, with officials evacuating residents and red-tagging the property for safety.

A minor amount of movement was still detected over the weekend, San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan said.

“Metrolink engineers are working with San Clemente city engineers and consulting geologists to determine the safety of the area above under Casa Romantica,” said Scott Johnson, a spokesperson from Metrolink.

He did not have a timeline for when passenger service might resume. “We need to have some level of assurance by geologists that the hillside is safe to start rail service,” he said.

Freight trains started running again over the weekend, Johnson said. They are required to go no faster than 10 mph when near the slope collapse and must also confirm with a track safety expert before moving through the area. Each night and into the early morning, there are between three and five freight trains that run along the tracks through San Clemente in a 12-hour period.

Residents who live in the area alerted city officials to the freight train traffic over the weekend and Kiel Koger, San Clemente’s director of public works, said Monday that city officials had voiced concern about the potential of vibrations coming from the freight trains affecting the still-creeping slope and nearby buildings.

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“I’ll feel better when that slope stops moving,” Koger said. “We are sharing any information with the other agencies.”

Meanwhile, thousands of passengers who typically rely on Metrolink for their commutes are affected.

There are 14 Metrolink trains that use that route on weekdays and another 12 on weekends, along with 22 Pacific Surfliner trains (both north and south) that regularly operate through the San Clemente area, Johnson said.

Metrolink has approximately 4,700 daily weekday boardings along the Orange County and the Inland Empire-Orange County lines, both of which regularly operate through San Clemente.

Daily service through San Clemente only resumed two weeks ago after being halted for several months because of emergency repairs that had to be made after the tracks had shifted on a stretch further south because of a landslide and crashing waves.

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Orange County Register