News

A Scenic California Rail Line Sits on an Eroding Cliff. Where Should the Tracks Go?

Published

12 months ago

March 3, 2025

A Scenic California Rail Line Sits on an Eroding Cliff. Where Should the Tracks Go?

Perched atop craggy bluffs in a beachside city north of San Diego, a railroad line offers passengers a sweeping view of the Pacific Coast. But the ground beneath it is crumbling.

No one denies the problem, but a fight over how to solve it highlights a broader challenge, and a worrisome reality, for California residents: how to adapt to climate change that threatens coastal living, a way of life that has long defined the state’s identity, from its economy to its culture.

The segment of track on the bluffs in Del Mar, Calif., connects San Diego to the rest of the state and the country, and is part of one of the busiest intercity passenger rail corridors in the nation. But the bluffs are eroding rapidly, and the track in some places is now only a few yards from the cliff edge.

Officials and residents in Del Mar and nearby communities broadly agree that the tracks need to be moved, but argue over where they should go. The debate has slowed progress, even as climate change accelerates the risks to the bluffs and the rail line.

On Friday, local representatives on the board of the county’s regional planning agency — the San Diego Association of Governments — voted to narrow the potential alternatives to four options, down from more than a dozen that were assessed in a recent report. But a final decision remains far off.

“It’s at a dangerous point, and with all the bureaucracy involved, it makes us wonder whether it will even be in our lifetime before it’s solved,” Barbara Myers, a former Del Mar school board member, said of the problem. She lives near the proposed location of a tunnel entrance to relocate the rail line, and she worries about toxic fumes or the possibility of street collapses.

With sea levels rising and stronger waves battering their shores, many other communities like Del Mar see a need to adapt, but are finding the options difficult.

Cliffside homes and apartment buildings teeter on the edge, some of them abandoned or demolished preemptively because of the threat of collapse from erosion. Infrastructure has taken a beating up and down the California coast: Sections of scenic Highway 1 have closed repeatedly because of landslides, and the Santa Cruz Wharf, a popular tourist attraction, was torn apart by towering waves in December. Communities are racing to protect shrinking beaches, reinforcing them with barriers and dredging sand from other areas in an effort to maintain and replenish them.

“The situation in Del Mar is a microcosm of a larger battle that’s unfolding,” said Charles Lester, a former official with the California Coastal Commission, a state agency that manages development along the coastline. He now directs the Ocean and Coastal Policy Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “What are we going to prioritize and try to maintain as these environmental changes happen?”

The Del Mar track is part of a 351-mile coastal rail corridor stretching from San Luis Obispo to San Diego. It is used by passenger, freight and military trains, including Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner, whose name evokes the way sections of the route hug the coast. Millions of trips are taken along the route each year.

But the same coastal proximity that gives passengers scenic ocean views also makes the track vulnerable to erosion. Construction crews are now working on the fifth project since the early 2000s to stabilize the Del Mar bluffs, a $90 million effort that will, among other things, install additional support columns and retaining walls.

These projects are not a long-term solution. The rising ocean and erosion continue to pound the bluffs, leading to costly emergency repairs and repeated service disruptions. On average, the bluffs retreat a few inches a year, but there can be sudden collapses that chew away more than 20 feet at once. And not just in Del Mar: Erosion is also destabilizing parts of the rail corridor farther north, in San Clemente.

“Realistically, time is not on our side, with the acceleration of climate change,” said Fred Jung, who chairs the rail corridor’s board of directors. “We are forced to act right now.

City officials in Del Mar — a community of about 4,000 residents in an area of less than two square miles — have been talking for decades about moving the tracks off the crumbling bluffs. In 2017, the county planning agency completed a study outlining five possible new routes.

The idea gained momentum in 2022 when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a state budget that allocated $300 million for relocating the tracks. In June 2024, the association of local governments announced that it had narrowed the options down to three, all involving inland tunnels.

The reaction was swift. Del Mar residents raised concerns about tunnel construction and operations beneath their homes, citing risks from vibration and pollution. People who lived near the entrance and exit points of the proposed tunnels worried that homes would be demolished.

A proposed route running through a lagoon was opposed by environmentalists because of how it might affect sensitive habitats. A route that would tunnel under the San Diego County Fair grounds and into neighboring Solana Beach met resistance from that city and from fair organizers.

And looming above the debate is the question of money. The project is expected to cost billions of dollars, and county voters rejected a half-cent sales tax increase in November that would have raised money for regional transportation and infrastructure projects, including the Del Mar track relocation.

In light of all that, the agency re-examined the issue, ultimately leading to the vote on Friday. Three of the options now on the table would move the line off the bluffs; a fourth would keep the track where it is, reinforce the bluffs and add a second track next to the existing one.

As required by state and federal law, the agency would also study a fifth option: no project at all.

The meeting, with two hours of discussion, grew emotional at times, as officials and residents voiced concerns about the proposed options. Mayor Terry Gaasterland of Del Mar abstained from voting.

The mayor said in an interview before the meeting that none of the remaining options is likely to satisfy everyone.

“We’re going to need to step back and minimize the sum total of the unhappiness,” she said. “And also spread it out.”

That debate was on display on a recent Saturday in Del Mar, as construction crews were working to stabilize a section of the bluffs supporting the tracks. Near the top, workers used excavators, a giant drill and other heavy equipment. In several areas, chunks of the bluffs had eroded and crumbled, sending dirt, rocks and vegetation tumbling down onto the beach.

Officials acknowledge that neither the current stabilization project nor emergency repairs offer a long-term solution to the challenges of the rising ocean and coastal erosion.

Jim Hindman, 64, a financial consultant, lives with his family just one house away from the bluff-top tracks. His voice was sometimes drowned out by the construction trucks that kicked up dust as they pulled in and out of his street, which ends at the tracks.

Mr. Hindman said the option to add a second track to the existing rail line would alter the character of his neighborhood and the bluff. He said the bluffs were a beloved community space where people gather to watch sunsets, spot whales and dolphins, and even celebrate weddings.

“Tranquillity by the sea? Not happening for the next couple of years,” he said, referring to the stabilization work and the potential for a tunnel project to follow.

Richard Sfeir, 66, has lived for three decades in Del Mar Heights, a San Diego neighborhood bordering the city of Del Mar. Many houses in the Heights perch high above downtown Del Mar along narrow, winding streets. One relocation proposal would route the tracks through a tunnel under the neighborhood, an idea that he called “crazy” because of its cost, timeline and impact on a protected environmental area.

But Mr. Sfeir, a businessman, said that something needed to be done.

“No solution is not an answer,” he said, “unless you get rid of the train, period.”

Click to comment

News

Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links

Published

8 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Bill Clinton to testify before House committee investigating Epstein links

Former president Bill Clinton is scheduled to give deposition Friday to a congressional committee investigating his links to Jeffrey Epstein, one day after Hillary Clinton testified before the committee and called the proceedings “partisan political theatre” and “an insult to the American people”.

During remarks before the House oversight committee, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, insisted on Thursday that she had never met Epstein.

The former Democratic president, however, flew on Epstein’s private jet several times in the early 2000s but said he never visited his island.

Clinton, who engaged in an extramarital affair while president and has been accused of sexual misconduct by three women, also appears in a photo from the recently released files, in a hot tub with Epstein and a woman whose identity is redacted.

Clinton has denied the sexual misconduct claims and was not charged with any crimes. He also has not been accused of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein.

Epstein visited the White House at least 17 times during the early years of Clinton’s presidency, according to White House visitor records cited in news reports. Clinton said he cut ties with him around 2005, before the disgraced financier, who died from suicide in 2019, pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor in Florida.

The House committee subpoenaed the Clintons in August. They initially refused to testify but agreed after Republicans threatened to hold them in contempt.

The Clintons asked for their depositions to be held publicly, with the former president stating that to do so behind closed doors would amount to a “kangaroo court”.

“Let’s stop the games + do this the right way: in a public hearing,” Clinton said on X earlier this month.

The committee’s chair, James Comer, did not grant their request, and the proceedings will be conducted behind closed doors with video to be released later.

On Thursday, Hillary Clinton’s proceedings were briefly halted after representative Lauren Boebert leaked an image of Clinton testifying.

During the full day deposition, Clinton said she had no information about Epstein and did not recall ever meeting him.

Before the deposition, Comer said it would be a long interview and that one with Bill Clinton would be “even longer”.

News

Read Judge Schiltz’s Order

Published

17 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

CASE 0:26-cv-00107-PJS-DLM

Doc. 12-1 Filed 02/26/26

Page 5 of 17

and to file a status update by 11:00 am on January 20. ECF No. 5. Respondents never provided a bond hearing and did not release Petitioner until January 21, ECF Nos. 10, 12, after failing to file an update, ECF No. 9. Further, Respondents released Petitioner subject to conditions despite the Court’s release order not providing for conditions. ECF Nos. 5, 12–13.

Abdi W. v. Trump, et al., Case No. 26-CV-00208 (KMM/SGE)

On January 21, 2026, the Court ordered Respondents, within 3 days, to either (a) complete Petitioner’s inspection and examination and file a notice confirming completion, or (b) release Petitioner immediately in Minnesota and confirm the date, time, and location of release. ECF No. 7. No notice was ever filed. The Court emailed counsel on January 27, 2026, at 10:39 am. No response was provided.

Adriana M.Y.M. v. David Easterwood, et al., Case No. 26-CV-213 (JWB/JFD)

On January 24, 2026, the Court ordered immediate release in Minnesota and ordered Respondents to confirm the time, date, and location of release, or anticipated release, within 48 hours. ECF No. 12. Respondent was not released until January 30, and Respondents never disclosed the time of release, instead describing it as “early this morning.” ECF No. 16.

Estefany J.S. v. Bondi, Case No. 26-CV-216 (JWB/SGE)

On January 13, 2026, at 10:59 am, the Court ordered Respondents to file a letter by 4:00 pm confirming Petitioner’s current location. ECF No. 8. After receiving no response, the Court ordered Respondents, at 5:11 pm, to immediately confirm Petitioner’s location and, by noon on January 14, file a memorandum explaining their failure to comply with the initial order. ECF No. 9. Respondents did not file the memorandum, requiring the Court to issue another order. ECF No. 12. On January 15, the Court ordered immediate release in Minnesota and required Respondents to confirm the time, date, and location of release within 48 hours. ECF No. 18. On January 20, having received no confirmation, the Court ordered Respondents to comply immediately. ECF No. 21. Respondents informed the Court that Petitioner was released in Minnesota on January 17, but did not specify the time. ECF No. 22.

5

News

Chicagoans pay respects to Jesse Jackson as cross-country memorial services begin

Published

20 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Chicagoans pay respects to Jesse Jackson as cross-country memorial services begin

James Hickman holds a photo montage of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Nam Y. Huh/AP

CHICAGO — A line of mourners streamed through a Chicago auditorium Thursday to pay final respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. as cross-country memorial services began in the city the late civil rights leader called home.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson died Tuesday at the age of 84.

The protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate will lie in repose for two days at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition before events in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, where he was born.

Family members wiped away tears as the casket was brought into the stately brick building. Flowers lined the sidewalks where people waiting to enter watched a large screen playing video excerpts of Jackson’s notable speeches. Some raised their fists in solidarity.

The casket with the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives before a public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Nam Y. Huh/AP

Inside, Jackson’s children, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among those who stood by the open casket to shake hands and hug those coming to view the body of Jackson, dressed in a suit and blue shirt and tie.

“The challenge for us is that we’ve got to make sure that all he lived for was not in vain,” Sharpton told reporters. “Dr. King’s dream and Jesse Jackson’s mission now falls on our shoulders. We’ve got to stand up and keep it going.”

The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks as Jesse Jackson Jr. listens after the public visitation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Nam Y. Huh/AP

Jackson died last week at age 84 after battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak in his later years.

Remembrances have already poured in from around the globe, and several U.S. states, including Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina, are flying flags at half-staff in his honor.

But perhaps nowhere has his death been felt as strongly as in the nation’s third-largest city, where Jackson lived for decades and raised his six children, including a son who is a congressman.

Bouquets have been left outside the family’s Tudor-style home on the city’s South Side for days. Public schools have offered condolences, and city trains have used digital screens to display Jackson’s portrait and his well-known mantra, “I am Somebody!”

People wait to enter the security checkpoint for the public visitation for the Rev. Jesse Jackson at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Nam Y. Huh/AP

His causes, both in the United States and abroad, were countless: Advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.

Family members stand in front of a portrait of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

How the Rev. Jesse Jackson transformed American politics

“We honor him, and his hard-earned legacy as a freedom fighter, philosopher, and faithful shepherd of his family and community here in Chicago,” the mayor said in a statement.

Next week, Jackson will lie in honor at the South Carolina Statehouse, followed by public services. According to Rainbow PUSH’s agenda, Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to deliver remarks; however, the governor’s office said Thursday that his participation wasn’t yet confirmed. Jackson spent his childhood and started his activism in South Carolina.

Details on services in Washington have not yet been made public. However, he will not lie in honor at the United States Capitol rotunda after a request for the commemoration was denied by the House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.

The two weeks of events will wrap up next week with a large celebration of life gathering at a Chicago megachurch and finally, homegoing services at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Family members said the services will be open to all.

“Our family is overwhelmed and overjoyed by the amazing amount of support being offered by common, ordinary people who our father’s life has come into contact with,” his eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., said before the services began. “This is a unique opportunity to lay down some of the political rhetoric and to lay down some of the division that deeply divides our country and to reflect upon a man who brought people together.”

The family of the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives as Yusep Jackson wipes his eyes before public visitation at Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago on Thursday.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Nam Y. Huh/AP

The services included prayers from some of the city’s most well-known religious leaders, including Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich. Mourners of all ages — from toddlers in strollers to elderly people in wheelchairs — came to pay respects.

Video clips of his appearances at news conferences, the campaign trail and even “Sesame Street” also played inside the auditorium.

Claudette Redic, a retiree who lives in Chicago, said her family has respected Jackson, from backing his presidential ambitions to her son getting a scholarship from a program Jackson championed.

“We have generations of support,” she said. “I’m hoping we continue.”