Passenger Trains > Amtrak #14(11) Makes it Through Watsonville Jct. Flooding

Amtrak #14(11) managed to make it through the flooding in the area of Watsonville Jct.
this evening after having been stopped for over 2 hours at that spot before creeping
through.  Presently 3 1/2 hours late at San Jose.

A 120' levee breach on  the Pajaro River occurred at midnight late Friday causing
widespread flooding in Pajaro and Watsonville.  One of the many media reports:

https://www.kqed.org/news/11943316/pajaro-river-levee-breached-where-to-find-evacuation-shelters

The breach is located 2 miles upstream from Pajaro on the south bank just north of San Juan Road.
Pajaro(not labeled on the attached map) is the very small town immediately south of Watsonville
on the south bank.  Given the terrain of the area it's rather surprising the UP line is still open.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/23 23:57 by milepost20.

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I was watching the Amtrak tracker site last night, the train was not stopped there for 2 hours.  It was already running more than 2.5 hours late before getting to the Watsonville Junction area maybe arond 2015-2030 or so, but did stop and hold for about 20-30 minutes right before the main line curves to the east to enter Watsonville Junction.  At 2115 the train performed a reverse move, backing up to the area of Garin Road where it sat for another fifteen minutes or so, then the train crept back north, again stopping just after 2130 just shy of the curve, where it sat for another 15ish minutes.  Just after 2145 the train advanced a few thousand feet around the curve, stopped again for a few minutes, but by 2206 the train was through Watsonville Junction and accelerating away from the scene.  All told it lost about an hour making its way through the flooded area.  

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV 

Thanks for the clarification on the timing and details.  My estimate was based on being 1:33 late
out of Salinas and 3:30 late at San Jose.  There certainly could have been other delays on that
stretch.  UP seems(so far) to have avoided any serious disruption as #11(11) is still scheduled to
go through today.

I did misspeak about how far down the train was when it got to Watsonville Junction, my bad.  The last time I looked at the status a bit after 10 last night it was about 2.5 hours down and moving at about 16-17 mph around Aromas.  The data on the tracker shows it lost another hour somewhere between there and San Jose.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

From Amtrak Alerts: #11(11) terminated at Emeryville this morning.  Presumably #14 will
not be leaving Los Angeles.  Surfliner service to SLO not affected.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/23 11:00 by milepost20.