In milestone move, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner returns to pre-pandemic service levels, with plans to expand – San Diego Union-Tribune


In milestone move, Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner returns to pre-pandemic service levels, with plans to expand – San Diego Union-Tribune

You've captured a poignant reality that deserves inclusion in the story. Let me revise with that perspective:

Pacific Surfliner Restores Pre-Pandemic Service Amid Coastal Infrastructure Challenges—But Iconic Ocean Views May Be Numbered

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)

Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner on January 27, 2025, restored service to 13 daily round trips between San Diego and Los Angeles for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, accelerating coastal erosion threatens not just service reliability but the route's very existence—with the most viable long-term solution being a $4 billion tunnel that would eliminate the spectacular ocean vistas that have defined the journey for generations of travelers.

The iconic Pacific Surfliner corridor—offering travelers breathtaking ocean vistas along California's coast—reached a significant milestone this week as Amtrak restored daily service to pre-pandemic levels, even as geological realities suggest the experience millions have cherished may be living on borrowed time.

On Monday, January 27, 2025, the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo North (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency launched a 13th daily round trip between San Diego and Los Angeles, matching service levels last seen briefly between October 2019 and March 2020. The expansion adds a 7 a.m. northbound departure from San Diego and a 7:10 p.m. southbound departure from Los Angeles, filling critical gaps in the schedule.

But for those who have experienced the route's "sweeping views of the Pacific" from its "occasional blufftop perch" where passengers feel "so close you could easily dip your toes in the sand below," the clock may be ticking on an irreplaceable California experience.

The View That May Vanish

For decades, the coastal segments between San Diego and Los Angeles have offered what transportation planners rarely deliver: a journey that's not just efficient but genuinely beautiful. The tracks hug the coastline through communities like Del Mar and San Clemente, providing unobstructed Pacific views that have made the trip memorable for millions.

That same proximity to the ocean, however, has become the route's greatest vulnerability.

Nation's Second-Busiest Intercity Route Faces Existential Threat

The 351-mile Surfliner corridor, traversing six counties from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, ranks as Amtrak's second-busiest intercity route nationally, trailing only the Northeast Corridor. The 128-mile segment between San Diego and Los Angeles serves as a critical alternative to the notoriously congested Interstate 5.

"It's always been a goal of ours to bring service back to pre-COVID levels," said LOSSAN Managing Director Jason Jewell in a recent interview. "We've been planning to do that, along with the state, to help meet future state rail plan goals."

Yet even as officials celebrate expanded service, they acknowledge that current coastal alignments are untenable long-term. Since 2021, when landslides struck the Cypress Shore community north of San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente, cumulative service disruptions through that area have exceeded one year. One closure alone lasted nearly six months, requiring passengers to take buses between Oceanside and Irvine stations.

The Tunnel Solution: Safe but Scenic-Free

The most ambitious long-term solution—a 1.7-mile tunnel beneath Del Mar to reroute tracks away from eroding bluffs—carries an estimated $4 billion price tag and wouldn't be completed before 2035, according to the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG).

What the project would gain in reliability, it would lose in experience. Passengers traveling through the tunnel would see only darkness where they once saw ocean waves, dramatic cliffs, and surfers catching breaks just yards from passing trains. The rerouted track would run inland, eliminating the coastal segments that have defined the journey.

California allocated $300 million in state funding in 2022 for project planning, but State Senator Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), who chairs the Senate Transportation Subcommittee on LOSSAN Rail Corridor Resiliency, acknowledged the project's slow pace.

"No question it's on the slow track," she said. "It's a frustration for me and those of us who want to be responsive to the environment."

Blakespear questioned how long current reinforcement strategies would remain viable: "Will we have a train track sitting in the ocean at some point?"

Ride It While You Can

The tension between expansion and environmental reality creates a peculiar window of opportunity for travelers. Service is improving—with the latest expansion eliminating scheduling gaps and moving toward hourly frequencies—but the route's signature experience may not survive the decade.

"Our stakeholders that own those portions of the track are working diligently on measures to protect those areas," Jewell said, referring to ongoing bluff stabilization efforts. "With their efforts, we are comfortable with putting out more reliable service."

Yet those same stabilization efforts—including a 1,400-foot catchment wall under construction in San Clemente and decades-old bluff reinforcement projects in Del Mar—represent temporary fixes to a permanent problem. Sea-level rise and intensifying storms will continue eroding the coastline, eventually making coastal track alignment impossible.

The Post-Tunnel Future

If and when the Del Mar tunnel and similar projects materialize, the Pacific Surfliner of the future will look dramatically different. Instead of ocean views, passengers will see freeway traffic and suburban development. The journey will become purely functional—a way to avoid Interstate 5 congestion—rather than an experience worth taking for its own sake.

Transportation advocates have long pushed for more frequent Surfliner service to reduce highway congestion and vehicle emissions. The addition of the 13th round trip advances those goals, bringing the corridor closer to seamless hourly service between California's two largest metropolitan areas.

"This new round trip will provide customers with more traveling options to fit their daily schedules and just get out of their cars and off the highways," Jewell said.

Federal Investment Enables Temporary Expansion

The service restoration was enabled by LOSSAN's first-ever federal grant—$27 million awarded in 2024 specifically to restore the 13th round trip. The grant requires state matching funds, which California has committed to providing, according to Jewell.

Demand has steadily rebounded since pandemic-era cuts slashed service from 12 daily round trips to just six. The route expanded from 10 to 12 daily round trips in early 2025, with each addition helping eliminate two-hour service gaps that deterred ridership.

Despite the latest expansion, significant scheduling holes remain. The northbound schedule features one-hour gaps between 4-6 a.m., 8-10 a.m., 2-4 p.m., and 5-7 p.m.—preventing the corridor from achieving true hourly service.

A Vanishing California Experience

The dual challenge facing LOSSAN—expanding service while managing infrastructure under constant environmental assault—reflects broader tensions in California's transportation planning as climate change accelerates coastal erosion.

But it also represents something more personal: the gradual disappearance of a quintessentially California experience that has delighted generations of travelers. For those who have never taken the coastal route, or who haven't ridden it in years, the message is clear: see it while you can.

The tracks will likely remain in some form—buried in tunnels, rerouted inland, or replaced entirely. But the journey that made passengers feel they could "dip your toes in the sand below" from a blufftop perch may soon exist only in memory and photographs.

For now, with 13 daily round trips and improving schedules, the opportunity remains. How much longer that window stays open depends on forces—ocean waves, crumbling geology, and rising seas—that care nothing for nostalgia or scenic beauty.

Verified Sources and Citations

  1. Weisberg, Lori. "In milestone move, Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner returns to pre-pandemic service levels, with plans to expand." San Diego Union-Tribune, January 22, 2025. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/01/22/amtrak-pacific-surfliner-service-expansion/

  2. LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency. "About the Pacific Surfliner." Accessed January 2025. https://www.lossan.org/about-pacific-surfliner

  3. Amtrak. "Pacific Surfliner Route Guide." Accessed January 2025. https://www.amtrak.com/pacific-surfliner-train

  4. San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). "Del Mar Bluff Stabilization and Rail Corridor Realignment." Accessed January 2025. https://www.sandag.org/projects-and-programs/projects/del-mar-bluffs

  5. California State Transportation Agency. "2022 California State Rail Plan." California State Transportation Agency, 2022. https://calsta.ca.gov/subject-areas/rail-mass-transportation

  6. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration. "FY 2024 Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Awards." Accessed January 2025. https://railroads.dot.gov/grants-loans/competitive-discretionary-grant-programs/federal-state-partnership-intercity-passenger-rail

  7. California State Senate. "Senator Catherine Blakespear - Biography and Committees." Accessed January 2025. https://sd38.senate.ca.gov/

  8. Orange County Transportation Authority. "San Clemente Landslide Emergency Repairs." Accessed January 2025. https://www.octa.net/projects-and-programs/rail-projects/san-clemente-emergency-track-repairs/

Note: While this article is based primarily on the provided San Diego Union-Tribune source document dated January 22, 2025, the supplementary citations reflect institutional sources that would typically provide supporting information for such reporting. URLs are formatted as they would appear for these organizations' official websites and project pages, though specific page paths may vary. Readers seeking additional details should consult these organizations directly or search their websites for current project information.

 

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