After a week of silence along the steel spine of the Gaviota Coast, trains are once again moving.
Rail service through the Gaviota area has been restored, according to Union Pacific Railroad, ending a suspension that began January 6 after storm damage compromised the tracks and injured a worker.
“Rail service has been restored in the Gaviota, California area,” said Mike Jaixen, Union Pacific’s senior manager of communications, in an email to the Santa Barbara Independent on Tuesday.
The reopening comes after a washout near Arroyo Quemada forced a full shutdown of the single-track coastal rail corridor, halting both freight traffic and passenger service. The closure followed an incident in which an excavator clearing debris fell into an eroded section of rail bed, sending its operator roughly 10 feet down. The worker sustained minor injuries and was transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Passenger service has also resumed. Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner returned to its normal schedule Tuesday morning, with southbound Train No. 774 departing San Luis Obispo at 6:11 a.m. — the first Surfliner to pass through the corridor since the shutdown. The Coast Starlight, which had been canceled between Los Angeles and Emeryville during the closure, is also scheduled to resume service.
