While the old Santa Fe "Surf Line", now Metrolink's Orange Sub, is closed to passenger traffic in San Clemente due to yet another landslide, freight trains are still allowed to pass by as this is the only rail access to San Diego. (The freights crawl by at no more than 10 mph, however.) On this second day of summer, BNSF Railway train H-BARSDG rolls through the Metrolink station in Orange, with BNSF ES44C4 6998, BNSF Dash 9-44CW 5449 and Canadian Pacific AC4400CW 8621 up front (and CP AC4400CWM 8154 as this train's rear Distributed Power Unit). This train passed through here at 10:30 am, after the last morning Metrolink train operated on this line, and hours before the first of the afternoon fleet begins operating. (And Amtrak service on this line has been reduced as well, thanks to that landslide.) Other than the restricted speed along the beach in San Clemente, this train will have an unimpeded run to San Diego from Barstow. (Orange, California – June 22, 2023)
