Editor’s note: Sacramento Snapshot is a weekly series during the legislative session detailing what Orange County’s representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on — from committee work to bill passages and more.
Who should be in charge of advocating for upgrades and protections for the 351-mile stretch of rail line through coastal Southern California, especially as climate change continues to result in very real threats to the corridor?
That’s the intent of a small group of state senators — including four representing Orange County — who met last week to discuss future threats to the Los Angeles – San Diego – San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor (or LOSSAN Corridor) and updates to short and long-term stabilization efforts, particularly around San Clemente.
“We’re really not doing effective strategic planning for the whole corridor,” said Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, the subcommittee chair. “I don’t think any of us really know when we have seven different owners and many operators along the corridor where should investments be made.”
As legislators returned to Sacramento last week after the month-long recess, one of the first orders of business was to convene the second hearing by the Subcommittee on LOSSAN Rail Corridor Resiliency.
“There are significant sea level rise, flooding and erosion events that are expected to continue happening in this corridor,” said Chad Edison, the chief deputy secretary for rail and transit for the California State Transportation Agency.
Bluff retreats average up to 6 inches per year in some places along the corridor, considered to be the second-busiest intercity passenger railway in the U.S., Edison estimated.
“The need to protect the corridor that’s there in the short term and look at realignment alternatives is very real,” he said.
Efforts to shore up protections and upgrades to the LOSSAN Corridor should include both short and long-term responses, said County…
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