Fierce Blaze in Tunnel Cuts Rail Service to the Bay Area

A fierce fire that broke out in a railroad tunnel 15 miles west of San Luis Obispo interrupted all coastal rail services between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday.

Service may not be restored for at least 10 days, Southern Pacific Railroad and Amtrak officials said.

“About 75% of the tunnel is on fire, and the heat is so intense we haven’t been able to get crews into the tunnel since about 7 a.m.,” Southern Pacific spokesman John Tierney said. “Part of the tunnel is wood-lined, and it’s the wood that’s on fire. It will probably just burn itself out, and we don’t know how long that will take.”

Amtrak service between Los Angeles and the Bay Area was suspended and passengers were shifted to buses, Tierney said. Passengers from Los Angeles to destinations between Oakland and Seattle will be bused between Los Angeles and Bakersfield and then travel between Bakersfield and Oakland on the regular Amtrak service between those two cities.

“The bus service is already in operation, and no one was left without transport to their destination today (Thursday),” said Bruce Heard, Amtrak spokesman in Washington.

Heard said Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train travels daily between Los Angeles and Seattle. One train travels each way daily, carrying 300 to 400 passengers.

The four freight trains a day each way between Los Angeles and the Bay Area are being rerouted via Saugus and Mojave.

The fire broke out about midnight Wednesday in 1,351-foot Tunnel No. 7 on the Cuesta Grade west of San Luis Obispo, Tierney said. The cause is not yet known.

“It was first spotted by the crew of a freight train that passed through the tunnel one minute past midnight. That was the last train to get through. The crew gave the alarm, and we got Southern Pacific crews in to fight it right away. They tore out some of the wooden lining of the tunnel, but a few hours later they had to get out of the tunnel. The crews are still at the scene, but there’s not much they can do at the moment.”