1 month ago
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For decades, the coastal train route between San Diego and Los Angeles has dazzled millions of passengers with sweeping views of the Pacific, its occasional bluff-top perch making you feel so close you could easily dip your toes in the sand below.
Stunning vistas aside, the 128-mile trip linking California’s two largest cities provides travelers an escape from the mind-numbing traffic congestion that motorists must endure on Interstate 5. It’s no surprise then that demand for travel on Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner rail line has grown considerably since the early years of the pandemic when the number of daily San Diego-to-L.A. trips was slashed in half.
In a milestone move that will finally restore daily service to pre-pandemic levels, a 13th round trip is being added to the schedule, which will launch Monday and bring the popular route closer to Amtrak’s long-standing goal of having hourly trains between the two cities.
No matter that sections of crumbling cliffs and hillsides along the coastal route — most notably in the Del Mar and San Clemente areas — have forced regular service disruptions the past several years. One closure went on for nearly six months, requiring passengers to take a bus between the Oceanside and Irvine train stations. And just this weekend, there was yet another closure so that crews could continue work on building a 1,400-foot-long catchment wall at the landslide site in San Clemente.