Local News in Brief : Countywide : Power Failure Causes Amtrak to Run Late
Rail commuters faced major delays on Amtrak’s early morning trains through Orange County on Tuesday after a power failure caused switches to fail between San Diego and San Juan Capistrano.
One southbound train and one northbound train were affected, Amtrak officials said.
Mike Monte, an Amtrak reservation sales agent, said that without the switches the trains had to reduce speed to 20 m.p.h. for safety. Normally the trains travel 65 to 70 m.p.h.
Mike Martin, manager of public affairs for the Santa Fe Railroad, which owns the tracks, said the power failure was caused by a break in the main signal line in San Clemente.
The train was an hour and 50 minutes late in Santa Ana and and an hour and 55 minutes late in Fullerton. It arrived in Los Angeles at 9:30 a.m., an hour and a half late.
The switches failed at 5:45 a.m. and were back in service at 8:40 a.m.
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