No timetable on completion date. Is this going to be a 26/7 work or more likely a 8 hr / 5 days a week slow walk?
CA: Construction begins on railroad barrier wall at San Clemente landslide | Mass Transit (masstransitmag.com)
Orange county may be looking to move rail line.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-29/orange-county-landslide-erosion-scenic-coast-railroad-tracks-surfliner-relocation-inland
I am not familiar with how CA HSR is planned thru this area. Any chance both lines could run in same ROW?
The original plan was for the HSR to follow the Surfline route to San Diego as much as possible. This infuriated nimbys in Northern San Diego County (at least), and the hostility forced the HSR authorities to adopt an infland route through Riverside or Corona and down through Escondido. Those cities welcomed it, unlike the folks in the costal areas. It seems like that route is too far inland to relocate a part of the surfline on the coast. But could there be a compromise shared route? Don't know, but would be pricey.
Had the original plan prevailed, San Diego could reasonably argued that should be one of the first, or the first, section to be built, since it amounted to rebuilding an existing line, with relocations as necessary. Unfortunately, I think that ship has sailed.
I'd think huge sections of the Surf Line were utterly unsuitable for the kind of HSR grade and trackage required. That's before we consider the 'coaster' regional and freight traffic...
My vague recollection about the LOSSAN coast HSR was that the r-o-w would have followed the I-5 r-o-w. There are few problems with that, such as a couple of nasty S-bends, one between Solana Beach and Cardiff and the other at Agua Hedionda lagoon along with the sharp curve at the north end of San Clemente.
One of the -um- loudest complaints from the NIMBY's was the projected noise.
I do think upgrading the Surf Line to support 90MPH running speeds (maybe 110MPH through Camp Pendleton) along with double/triple tracking to eliminate waiting for meets would lead to a substantial increase in traffic. The most expensive part would be dealing with San Clemente, followed by tunnels between Rose Canyon and Sorrento Valley and under Del Mar.
Just to make the coastal rail problem somewhat worse. There are indications that average wave height in the winter along the coast is up to 1 foot higher. Data used simestic data as bouys only go back to 1980s.
Rising tide: Winter waves are getting much larger in California (msn.com)
Just how much this will accelerate erosion will be an interesting theory by "experts"
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