Countywide : Evening Train Service to Be Interrupted

A $15-million upgrade to the railroad tracks between San Juan Capistrano and Del Mar will interrupt evening train service from Santa Ana to San Diego for three weeks, officials said.

From Sundays to Thursdays, Nov. 26 to Dec. 21, the last two southbound evening trains will operate only between Los Angeles and Santa Ana. Both trains--numbered 586 and 587--leave Los Angeles at 8:45 p.m. Amtrak will provide buses to shuttle passengers between Santa Ana, San Juan Capistrano, Oceanside, Del Mar and San Diego, officials said.

Sixteen daily trains on the Los Angeles-to-San Diego route may also be delayed up to 20 minutes because they will be traveling at slower speeds, said Joanna Capelle, spokesperson for the Los Angeles-San Diego Rail Corridor Agency. The slowdown is a safety measure in case passers-by create a hazard by placing construction materials on the tracks, Capelle said.

“The last time we did repair work we had quite a lot of vandalism,” Capelle said. “It potentially could cause a serious problem.”

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway company crews will work from 8 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., Sundays through Thursdays, laying new, smoother rails on a 51-mile stretch between the San Juan Capistrano depot and an area in north San Diego County known as the Sorrento Valley, about five miles south of Del Mar.